Known as "Big Jim", Smith joined the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) ground staff in 1926 and played for Wiltshire until 1933.

He was selected for the 1934–35 MCC tour of the West Indies on the strength of this performance and played in every Test there.

Although primarily a fast bowler, Smith earned a reputation as a big-hitting tail-ender.

In 1938, he scored a half-century in just 11 minutes against Gloucestershire at Bristol, the fastest genuine fifty on record.

[5] Another achievement was being credited by some with the biggest six in history, at Lord's in 1937, when he played a shot that cleared the Old Grandstand on the north side of the ground.