Michael Henry Denness was a Scottish cricketer who played for England, Scotland, Kent and Essex.
24 Facts About Mike Denness
2.
Mike Denness was the sixth player born in Scotland to play for England, after Gregor MacGregor, Alec Kennedy, Ian Peebles, David Larter and Eric Russell, but remains the only England captain to be born in Scotland.
3.
Mike Denness was one of the inaugural inductees into the Scottish Sports Hall of Fame and was a Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1975.
4.
Mike Denness was selected to play cricket for Scotland against Ireland in 1959 while still at school.
5.
Mike Denness made his first-class debut for Kent against Essex in July 1962 but was dismissed by Jim Laker twice on a turning pitch for 0 and 3.
6.
Mike Denness received his county cap in 1965 and Kent won the County Championship in 1970 for the first time since 1913.
7.
Mike Denness succeeded Colin Cowdrey as Kent captain at the beginning of the 1972 cricket season, having often substituted for Cowdrey when he was on Test duty.
8.
Mike Denness was a Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1975.
9.
Mike Denness 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.
10.
Mike Denness scored over 1,000 first-class runs in 14 English cricket seasons.
11.
Mike Denness played for England in 28 Tests and was the captain on 19 occasions, winning six, losing five and drawing eight matches.
12.
Mike Denness made his Test debut in the final test against New Zealand at The Oval in 1969.
13.
Mike Denness dropped himself from the England team for the 4th Test at Sydney after scoring only 65 runs in 6 innings in the first three Tests, although he was selected again for the 5th Test in Adelaide after his replacement John Edrich was injured, and achieving his highest Test score of 188 at Melbourne in the 6th Test to win by an innings.
14.
Mike Denness scored another large Test century, 181, when the tour continued to New Zealand, and captained England in the 1975 Cricket World Cup, losing to Australia in the semi-final.
15.
Mike Denness stepped down from the captaincy after losing the 1st Test of the 1975 Ashes series against Australia, at Edgbaston, by an innings.
16.
Mike Denness was replaced by Tony Greig and never played for England again.
17.
Mike Denness scored 1,667 runs in his 28 Tests, including four centuries.
18.
Mike Denness's seven accompanying half-centuries helped to leave him with a Test batting average of 39.69.
19.
Mike Denness was appointed as an ICC match referee in 1996.
20.
The BCCI later decided to forget the incident on humanitarian grounds, after Mike Denness underwent heart surgery.
21.
Mike Denness became a committee member at Kent, and was chairman of cricket at Kent until he resigned in 2004 over a dispute involving Andrew Symonds.
22.
Mike Denness was an inaugural member of the Scottish Sports Hall of Fame and was a member of the Scottish Cricket Hall of Fame.
23.
Mike Denness died at the age of 72, on 19 April 2013, after a long battle with cancer.
24.
Mike Denness was survived by his partner, Doreen Wadlow, and his three children.