The 17-year-old Waitaki Boys' High School pupil was meant to be at school learning things like economics, history and maths.
Instead the right-arm seamer was at the University Oval learning the art of 12th-man duties.
He was overlooked for a starting spot in the Otago team. But it is a reasonably sound bet the youngster will make his first-class debut when the Volts play Northern Districts at Cobham Oval in Whangarei.
The game begins tomorrow.
The last six months have been ‘‘pretty full-on'', he said.
There have been interschool cricket matches, Hawke Cup fixtures and he was picked in the South Island team for an inter-island twenty20 match but ended up carrying the drinks.
He has also been to Bangladesh where he represented New Zealand at the under-19 World Cup and is now on the cusp of making his first-class debut.
It is fair to say he has some homework to catch up on.
‘‘You've got to be at school to get homework,'' he joked.
‘‘I've got to take these opportunities when they come because they might not arise again.''
Bangladesh was a broadening and valuable experience. But the cricket did not go so well.
New Zealand lost to South Africa by 138 runs in the playoff for 11th.
‘‘It was a bit disappointing to see how the team went. We just really struggled against spin and teams were able to figure us out pretty quickly.
‘‘But I was pretty happy with the way I went. I got the ball to talk and got a bit of shape . . . ''.
Smith was the best performed of the New Zealand bowlers, taking seven wickets at an average of 26.28 in five games.
Otago all-rounder Josh Finnie captained the New Zealand team at the tournament and he had some success at the bowling crease as well, taking five wickets at an average of 27.
The surfaces suited spin which made his efforts especially meritorious.
Smith's main weapon is his ability to swing the ball away from right-handers.
He is quick at school level but at the next level his pace, which he estimates in the high 120s to 130kmh, is not going to present a challenge.
‘‘It is a pretty big opportunity and I'm really grateful for it,'' he responded when ask how he was finding being with a first-class side.
‘‘I'm just trying to pick up as much as I can off the older guys. Hopefully, over the next six months, I can get in the gym, get a bit of strength and impress over the winter.''
Nathan has a debt to pay to his older brother, Jeremy, who helped mould his game by thumping him around the backyard of the family home in Oamaru.
‘‘He is three years older than me so I guess I just followed whatever he did.
‘‘He made me bowl hundreds of overs at him in backyard cricket.''
Those sibling battles certainly got Smith match-fit.
Last year he took nine for 21 during an interschool fixture against Timaru Boys' High School, and in year 10 he carved up with the bat, scoring 168 not out against the same opponent.
Success at age group level is no guarantee Smith will go on to make a good first-class player.
But it has given him a foot in the door and he will join the likes of Otago greats Glenn Turner and Ken Rutherford in making his debut as a 17-year-old.
