Mike Denness

Mike Denness

Player information
Surname	Michael Henry Denness
Born	1st December 1940 Bellshill , Lanarkshire , Scotland
Died	April 19, 2013 at age 72, London , England
Batting style	Right handed
Bowling style	Right-handed off-break bowler. Right-handed medium-pace bowler
International games
National team	England
Test debut (cap 444)	August 21, 1969 v  New Zealand
Last test	July 14, 1975 v  Australia
ODI debut (cap 21)	5th September 1973 v  West Indies
Last ODI	June 18, 1975 v  Australia
National teams
Years	team
1959-1967	Scotland
1962-1976	Kent
1977-1980	Essex
Career statistics
Game form	Testing	ODI	FC	LA
Games	28	12	501	232
Runs (total)	1,667	264	25,886	5,393
Batting average	39.69	29.33	33.48	27.23
100s / 50s	4/7	-/1	33/152	6/28
Highscore	188	66	195	118 *
Balls	-	-	84	-
Wickets	-	-	2	-
Bowling Average	-	-	31.00	-
5 wickets in innings	-	-	-	-
10 wickets in play	-	n / A	-	n / A
Best bowling performance	-	-	1/7	-
Catches / stumpings	28 / -	1/-	410 / -	94 / -
Source: Cricinfo , April 18, 2015

Michael Henry "Mike" Denness ( OBE ; * December 1, 1940 ; † April 19, 2013 ) was a Scottish cricketer who played for Scotland and England , as well as Essex and Kent .

Denness was the only Scottish born player to captain England's national team. Two other English captains, Douglas Jardine and Tony Greig , also had Scottish parents.

After playing as a player, he became a match referee for the international association ICC . He was among the first to be inducted into the new Scottish Sports Hall of Fame in 2002 and was one of the Wisden Cricketers of the Year in 1975. On April 19, 2013, he died of cancer.

Player career

Denness played in a total of 28 tests and scored 1,667 runs and four centurys. He achieved his highest result with 188 runs in 1975 against Australia . He was the English captain in 19 games, of which he won six and lost five, with eight draws. The lack of support from Geoffrey Boycott made him difficult as captain, especially Boycott's absence from games against Australia. After the first test of the Ashes series in 1975 against Australia, Denness resigned as captain. While in Australia, he received a letter that read “Mike Denness, cricketer” on the envelope. The text read: "Should this reach you, the post office clearly thinks more of your ability than I do."

Denness played nationally between 1959 and 1980 for the two county clubs of Kent , for which he was also the captain, and Essex . He scored more than 30,000 runs in 501 first-class and 232 one-day games . He achieved 33 first-class Centuries with a high score of 195 runs and six One-Day Centuries with a high score of 188 *. In 1970 and 1979 he won the County Championship with Kent and Essex, respectively . Eight times he won one of the important English one-day competitions.

Match Referee Controversy

In his capacity as an ICC match referee , he imposed bans on six of the Indian players after the second test between South Africa and India in the 2001/2002 season in Port Elizabeth . India ignored this decision and re-positioned the players for the next test against South Africa. Whereupon the International Cricket Council (ICC) revoked the test status of this game. The ICC later reversed Denness' decision against some of the Indian players. Denness was heavily criticized for failing to explain his decision during a press conference.

In March 2002, Denness was no longer considered by the ICC when the latter drew up the list of the newly created Elite Panel of ICC Referees , although the English Association had drawn up it for it.

During his tenure as president of the Kent County Cricket Club , Denness was inducted into the Order of the British Empire on the 2013 New Years' Honors List .

Individual evidence

1. ^ Colin Bateman: If The Cap Fits . Tony Williams Publications, 1993, ISBN 1-869833-21-X , p. 47 (accessed April 20, 2011).
2. ↑ Former England captain Denness dies . Espncricinfo.com. Retrieved April 19, 2013.
3. ↑ Mike Denness, former England captain, dies of cancer . BBC. April 19, 2013. Retrieved April 19, 2013.
4. ^ Scorecard: The 1975 Ashes - 6th Test Australia v England . CricInfo. Retrieved April 19, 2013.
5. ↑ Player Profile: Mike Denness . CricInfo. Retrieved April 19, 2013.
6. ↑ Mike Atherton , The Times , August 14, 2008, p.62 (translation analogously: If this letter reaches you, then the Post thinks more of you than I do.)
7. ↑ Michael Denness . Scottish Sports Hall of Fame. Retrieved April 19, 2013.
8. ↑ http://content-usa.cricinfo.com/ci/content/story/108113.html
9. ↑ David Hopps: Denness left out of elite referees' panel , Guardian. March 2, 2002. Retrieved August 2, 2009. 
10. ↑ THE LONDON GAZETTE . The London Gazette. Retrieved on April 19, 2013.  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.