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Full name Michael Henry Denness
Born December 1, 1940, Bellshill, Lanarkshire, Scotland
Died April 19, 2013 (aged 72 years 139 days)
Major teams England, Scotland, Essex, Kent
Nickname Haggis
Batting style Right-hand bat
Other Referee
Height 5 ft 11 in
Education Ayr Academy
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Few contemporary batsmen were more stylish than Mike Denness at his peak, in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Tallish and slim, well-balanced, immaculately dressed on and off the field, possessed of a fine array of strokes and an excellent cover fieldsman to boot, Denness looked a model cricketer in every way. It was his misfortune that when those qualities won him the England captaincy, after Ray Illingworth's dismissal, he lacked the support of one of the players on whom he was most dependent. Geoff Boycott, who made no secret of how acutely he coveted the captaincy himself, played only the first six of Denness's 19 Tests as captain, which fatally holed England's prospects against Dennis Lillee and Jeff Thomson in Australia in 1974-75. Deposed when Australia won the first Test of 1975 at Edgbaston, Denness took his medicine with typical graciousness. He later became an ICC match referee but, at Port Elizabeth in 2001-02, his decision to sanction six Indian players, including Sachin Tendulkar, caused such a furore that the Indian and South African boards barred Denness from officiating in the next match, at Centurion. The ICC responded by withdrawing Test status from the game. He died in April 2013 after a battle with cancer during his final days as president of Kent.
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Michael Henry Denness OBE was a Scottish cricketer who played for England, Scotland, Essex and Kent. Scotland did not have a representative international team at the time of Denness' career, so he could only play for England at Test and ODI level. Denness was the second Scotsman to captain England, the first having been Douglas Jardine.[1] Denness later became an ICC match referee. He was one of the inaugural inductees into the Scottish Sports Hall of Fame and was a Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1975. Denness died of cancer on 19 April 2013.
Denness was born in Bellshill, North Lanarkshire, Scotland.He captained England on nineteen occasions, winning six, losing five and drawing eight matches. He stepped down from the captaincy after the first Test of the 1975 series against Australia. Throughout his career, he suffered a lack of support from Geoffrey Boycott, which contributed to his downfall as a skipper – Boycott's absence costing England during matches against Australia.Once while in Australia, Denness received an envelope that had been sent with the address "Mike Denness, cricketer". The letter inside read, "Should this reach you, the post office clearly thinks more of your ability than I do.Denness played in twenty eight Tests overall, scoring 1,667 runs including four centuries. His best of 188 came against Australia on 8 February 1975.[6] His seven accompanying half-centuries helped to leave him with a Test batting average of 39.69. His ODI career was less successful, playing only 12 matches and scoring 264 runs at 29.33, with a best of 66.
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In domestic cricket, Denness played for both Essex and Kent between 1959 and 1980, making 501 appearances in first-class cricket and 232 more in one day matches. He scored over 30,000 domestic runs in all, including 33 first class hundreds and a best of 195; and six one day centuries with a top score of 188 not out. He also took two wickets with his occasional bowling.
In his capacity as an ICC match referee, Denness caused controversy after the Port Elizabeth Test between South Africa and the visiting Indians when he sanctioned six Indian players. At first, India refused to accept the sanctions and named the players for the following Test match. The International Cricket Council responded by stripping the game of Test match status. Soon after both the BCCI and ICC decided to establish a referee committee to verify Denness's conclusions. The match referee was heavily criticised for failing to explain his actions at a press conference, thus infuriating the Indian cricket establishment.[7] The BCCI later decided to forget the incident on humanitarian grounds, after Denness underwent heart surgery.In March 2002, Denness' role as a match referee came to an end, when the ICC failed to select him for their newly formed Elite Panel of Referees, although he had been put forward by the ECB as a candidate.He died at the age of 72 after a battle with cancer.A president of Kent County Cricket Club, Denness was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2013 New Year Honours for services to sport.
Test debut England v New Zealand at The Oval, Aug 21-26, 1969
Last Test England v Australia at Birmingham, Jul 10-14, 1975
ODI debut England v West Indies at Leeds, Sep 5, 1973
Last ODI England v Australia at Leeds, Jun 18, 1975
First-class span 1959-1980
List A span 1963-1980
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