Mike Denness was not the first Scotsman to lead England at cricket, that accolade had already gone to Douglas Jardine, but with the latter’s birthplace given as Bombay he remains the only one to have been born in Scotland.
He also holds the honour of making the highest Test score in Australia by an England captain. His 188 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in the fifth Test of the ill-fated 1974-75 series, when Dennis lillee and Jeff Thomson laid waste to England’s batting, was a late riposte to a carnage that would have broken lesser men. It also suggested that he retained high personal standards despite the pounding defeats, something that proved a constant throughout his career.
Denness, who passed away on Friday morning at the age of 72, was relieved of his duties soon after that series following a further defeat by Australia, this time at home in 1975. It also proved to be the end of his Test career as a player, his total of 28 Tests (19 of them as captain) too few for a batsman considered among the most stylish of his era.
Having been handed the captaincy for the West Indies tour of 1974, there was the feeling that Denness never fully received the backing of those senior players angry at being passed over for the job after Ray Illingworth was sacked.
England drew that series, which was a good result, but both Denness and the team were outclassed when they took on lillee and Thomson on the fast, uneven pitches Australia prepared for them nine months later.
It is difficult for modern players to understand the perils of facing two 90mph bowlers was in the days before helmets and proper protective gear. Thomson, with his slingy, catapult action, was lethal and when you watch footage of batsmen taking body blows from him and lillee it is incredible there were not more serious injuries.
“Me and a few senior players like Keith Fletcher and Derek Underwood took Mike out before the team was picked and implored him to get John Snow on the trip after his success in Australia four years earlier,” Denis Amiss, who played under Denness, said. “But Snowy had blotted his copybook by bowling underarm in the Test trial that summer and Mike couldn’t sway the selectors.”
Amiss played and toured with Denness often and reckons people, especially in India, often got them mixed up, Denis Amiss being almost a homonym of Mike Denness. “There was often confusion with people phoning the hotel and being patched through to the wrong room,” Amiss said.
“I once went to Wimbledon with my wife expecting to have tickets in my name only to find they were in Mike’s instead. It took ages to persuade them they had made a mistake.”
Denness began his career playing as a teenager for Scotland but was quickly picked up by Kent in 1962. He stayed with them until 1976, winning one County Championship, two Gillette Cups, two Benson and Hedges Cups and three Sunday league titles. It was that experience of winning things that attracted Essex to signing him in 1977 and within two years his calm, self-assurance at the head of the order, had helped them win the first two trophies in their history, the B&H Cup and the Championship.
Denness was always courteous and well turned out, on pitch and off, and was a popular addition to Essex’s team of mavericks. Keith Fletcher recalls him “fitting in perfectly” and being “just the kind of senior player we needed”.
DT