From his debut in 1907, he quickly established himself as one of the fastest bowlers in first-class cricket, and his rumbustious lower-order batting and general enthusiasm made him a favourite with the crowds.

In 1908 he took 58 wickets including 13 in a remarkably heavy win against Kent at the Oval, but it was not until the latter part of 1910 that Hitch entered the public eye.

However, it was Hitch's brilliant close catching that garnered the critics' attention and helped Smith to a bag of wickets unrivalled for Surrey except by Tom Richardson in his great days between 1893 and 1897.

1912 - a summer in which fast bowlers generally had an impossible task just to get a foothold - saw Hitch against Essex at Leyton produce some of the fastest and most difficult bowling in the history of the game - probably at a speed of around 95 miles per hour (153 km/h).

He maintain this form in 1914 and 1919 but fell off as a bowler afterwards as he lost some of his terrific speed, but compensated in 1921 by scoring over a thousand runs at an average over thirty.