Luck integral to life and sport: Ed Smith

LONDON: Like ordinary folks, Ed Smith also believed that human beings must work hard to make their own luck. But all that changed one day when the former England player got a 'howler' of a decision from the umpire and it ended his international career after just three Test matches. This twist of fate prompted Smith to take a fresh look at life and fate.
"Life is not perfectly predictable," says Smith, who has authored four books, including 'Luck: A Fresh Look at Fortune' published last year."When you start your career at 18 or 19, no one believes that luck would play a big role. But it can have a big influence in a short period of time," he added.
"It would be absurd to say that Roger Federer won 17 Grand Slams simply because he is so naturally talented. Interestingly, Federer reckons that the world's current best tennis player Novak Djokovic has been plain lucky," said Smith. "All I am saying that we sometimes tend to overestimate human agency and underestimate the luck factor."
To establish this fact Smith gave two examples from his own life. The first refers to the incident that ended his Test career. He had fallen victim to someone else's incompetency over which he had no control and the second about his chance meeting with a beautiful lady, who later became his wife.
"One day, late in the evening, I was trying to hail a cab but had no luck. After trying in vain for a while, I decided to take a train where I met my future wife. Incidentally, she too had not planned to take the train. You may call it fate, but I consider myself to be a very lucky man," said Smith, who is now a cricket commentator and a celebrated after-dinner speaker.
Asked to relate his 'luck' theory to cricket, Smith said: "Just take Pankaj Singh's example. He was lucky to play the third Test because of an injury to Ishant Sharma, but was unlucky to finish with figures of 0179. On the other hand, had either Dhoni or Dhawan reacted in time and held the edge offered by Alastair Cook, Pankaj would have had a Test wicket early in his spell and it would have spelt doom for the England captain's career. Cook simply got lucky there."
Smith points out that luck plays a key role right from the time we are born till we die. "Do we get to decide where and to whom we are born?" Smith asks. "I was born to two school teachers and grew up in a learning environment. Cricket was incidental," he added.
"Luck is very important in the early part of your life and career. Later on, when you are established in life, you are in a position to absorb setbacks," Smith pointed out.
"To attract good luck, openness is as important as wilfulness. The idea is to give as many chances as we can to yourself in order to succeed," he added.
Indian players, unfortunately, have denied themselves this chance on this tour by committing harakiri at the first opportunity.