Cleveland County Cricket Club, and the wider Devil’s Hole community, is mourning the death of Carlton “Pluke” Smith, a past captain and president, who passed away on Monday at the age of 55.

Smith made his name as an early or middle order batsman and medium pace bowler on the Cleveland team, playing for them in the Eastern Counties, before later becoming president of the club. He held that post for about five years before stepping down in 2018.

Najee Musson, who became the Cleveland president in 2019, expressed sadness on the death of Smith. “It’s a major loss to the community, he was a big part of the Cleveland family,” Musson said.

“He helped us win the last two county cups that we won. It’s is a sad loss and he’s going to be a big miss to the community, with how he used to help out everybody.”

Smith took a special interest in the Cleveland youth team, guiding them to success in the Junior Counties team.

“That was his pride and joy, definitely took care of the youth and made sure they came to training, even if he had to pick them up, and made sure they got a ride home, afterwards,” Musson recalled.

“I would call him the youth leader, pretty much, as he made sure everything was organised and kept up to par.

“He even helped out with the senior team as well. This year we will definitely be pushing to win the Eastern Counties just for him!

“It is sad to see him pass on, but I know he was struggling with his health.”

Courtney Trott, who was secretary of the club when Smith was the president, also worked alongside him with the junior programme. He did a lot behind the scenes, Trott said of his former team-mate.

“During our time on the executive of the club, he would organise the community fun day we would have at the football field on Good Friday,” Trott revealed.

“He oversaw the junior programme at the club with the assistance of myself and Curtis Jackson as the coaches of the different age groups. Curtis would coach the under-8s, ‘Pluke’ did the under-11, under-13s and I did the under-15s.

“He was a long-serving president of the club, about five, six years, from about 2011-2012 up until 2017. We stepped down prior to him having any health issues.”

Trott remembers Smith as a good team player during his playing days, reliable with both the bat and ball.

“He was an open to middle order batsman, as he got older he went down the order a little bit,” he recalled.

“And a middle pace bowler to a spinner later in his career. He was my captain in a few county games.

“He was instrumental in organising our tour of England in 2007.”

McNeil McGowan, another former Cleveland player, says Smith was more than a stalwart of the club. “‘Pluke’ was more than that to the community,” he said. “Other than playing and being captain, he was also president of the club.“He became the driving force behind the junior programme, especially the junior county programme and encouraged each one of those juniors to make it at the senior level, especially in senior county.

“One of his dreams was that every player who played junior county would make senior county.

“As he said to me a few times, ‘Mac’, I’m not worried about our senior team, you know, because I’ve got enough juniors coming through the ranks.”

Some of the youngsters who Smith helped to nurture include Q’shai Darrell, Isaiah Creighton, Kioshi Trott, Jabari Darrell and Mackih McGowan, McNeil’s son, who made his debut for St George’s in Cup Match a couple of years ago.

“There are still a couple of juniors whom he would have liked to have seen play county this year. God willing that will still happen,” McGowan said.

“He spent a lot of time making sure the club was workable, kind of a disciplinarian in some ways in that he needed things done when he wanted them done.

“He also pushed for quality of players on the field, he didn’t stand for any nonsense on that.

“He had quite a few junior county victories under his belt, he used to take them around in his truck to celebrate, then host a barbecue for them, win or loss.”

McGowan added: “The legacy for me was the time he spent cultivating the juniors. That is what impressed upon me the most.

“I remember him telling Dennis Musson and me one time when he became president, that we can’t go anywhere because he needs some seniors around to help his cricket programme grow.

“That’s why I’m still around today! We were looking for him to lead this year’s cricket programme, now there’s a big void.

“He was just dedicated to Cleveland County Cricket Club and the community.

“And he enjoyed it when his juniors came through the ranks and made the senior county team.”