THE longer a batsman is kept waiting for their maiden century in first-class cricket, the greater the sense of relief when it arrives.

Greg Smith's came in the 35th first-class match of his career and, as the ball clipped the inside edge of his bat and bobbled towards the fine leg boundary during last week's Championship win over Middlesex, the pressure of a thousand anxieties were lifted from his shoulders.

But that will be nothing compared with the feeling of relief which will follow the sound of a certain small buff envelope dropping on to his doormat, hopefully quite soon. That will signal his real moment of arrival in English county cricket.

The 25-year-old from Johannesburg came to Derby in 2004 to start the process of qualifying to play for England and, next year, he will have completed his five years of residency and should be officially British.

The arrival of his passport will mean Smith is free to stay and work in this country for as long as he wishes and that Derbyshire will no longer lose a portion of the money they receive from the ECB every time they name him in the side.

It has been a long and occasionally frustrating process. Smith was unable to travel with the rest of the Derbyshire squad for the pre-season tour of Grenada because his South African passport had become lost somewhere in the Home Office machine and all the time before and since then, he has had to live with the nagging concern that something along the way might deny him the chance of the career he has dreamed of.

Recent reports that the rules may be tightened to cut down the number of Kolpaks in English cricket have only served to increase the trauma. The new passport cannot arrive quickly enough.

"Now that I've got the first hundred, the next thing to get off my back is to get the British passport," he said.

"I've moved here, I'm settled and it would be nice to have everything done and get my life started. At the moment, I don't really know where I am.

"I don't know what's happening with the rules because the Kolpak thing might change and they might not allow Kolpaks any more.

"At the back of my head, I'm still worrying a little bit because I still haven't physically got that British passport. I've done my time. Hopefully, I'll get it soon."

As long as Smith continues to play as well as he has in the past two months since he returned to the side after injury, Derbyshire will not mind so much that it costs them extra cash to play him.

His unbeaten 100 in the Twenty20 match at Headingley was a sensational way to announce his recovery from the torn muscle in his right arm that kept Smith on the sidelines for eight weeks and he had passed 50 in four of his last six first-class innings before the 113 against Middlesex.

Smith has never played with such maturity and purpose in his batting. He appears to have rid his game at last of the momentary recklessness that has wrecked too many good starts in the past.

Quite simply, Smith has grown up as a batsman and part of the reason for that, he believes, was because of that injury in the opening Championship match of the season at Bristol.

Unable to bowl his handy medium-pacers, he has been made to realise his place in the team depends on what he does with the bat and that has brought about a certain sharpening of the mind.

"I'd like to think I've grown as a person but it might have had a lot to do with knowing there was a lot of pressure to step up as a batter because my bowling wasn't there," he said.

"I've got a lot of 30s, 40s and 50s and haven't kicked on in the past. That's not really good enough and maybe just being in the side as a batter was an extra incentive for me to score those big runs.

"My game's really starting to come together now. I'm starting to work out where my strengths and weaknesses are.

"It takes a long time to get a good score. You have to bat for a day sometime, so in that way I'm really happy with how my mind is getting used to batting for long periods of time and not giving my wicket away."

However, Smith has not surrendered his role as a seamer in the team and he says he is looking forward to being back to full fitness next season.

"I miss bowling seam because that adds another dimension to my game," he added. "My off-spin can do a job but I wouldn't say I'm going to bowl a team out.

"I'm starting to do a few pull-ups in the gym now, which I couldn't do a few weeks ago, so the arm is getting stronger.

"Every now and then I try bowling a few in the nets and maybe it's psychological, I don't know, but I'd rather just make sure it's 100 per cent right, so I can't see myself bowling seam for the rest of the season.

"Batting was fine maybe a month after I was injured but I couldn't actually throw and that's why I maybe couldn't play. Bowling off-spin doesn't hurt me now but it's maybe just next season when it's stronger I'll be able to bowl seam."