England's breakthrough star faces biggest challenge yet

Pakistan, the Ashes and fatherhood now lie in wait for Jamie Smith

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The history of sports betting is littered with tales of punters getting rich on precocious talent. One chap memorably snaffled £125,000 on a bet that a 13-year-old go-kart whizz called Lewis Hamilton would some day rule Formula 1. The family of goalkeeper Chris Kirkland backed him to play for England at a similar age and made a fortune (just, since he did so only once). There's even a famous story of Oxfam landing a £100,000 windfall after Roger Federer won Wimbledon for the seventh time. The gambler who'd bet on him to do so in 2003 had died too soon to cash it and left the slip to the charity in his will.

Such, though, was the certainty with which all the right voices had been talking for years about Jamie Smith as a future England Test cricketer that when he made his debut in July only the very earliest believers could have done more than double their stake.