English cricketer (1945?2024)
Derek Underwood
MBE
![](//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/56/Derek_Underwood.jpg/220px-Derek_Underwood.jpg) Underwood in 2008
|
|
Full name
| Derek Leslie Underwood
|
---|
Born
| (
1945-06-08
)
8 June 1945
Bromley
, Kent, England
|
---|
Died
| 15 April 2024
(2024-04-15)
(aged 78)
|
---|
Nickname
| Deadly
|
---|
Batting
| Right-handed
|
---|
Bowling
| Slow left arm orthodox
Left arm
medium
|
---|
Role
| Bowler
|
---|
|
National side
| |
---|
Test debut (cap
433
)
| 30 June 1966 v
West Indies
|
---|
Last Test
| 17 February 1982 v
Sri Lanka
|
---|
ODI debut (cap
20
)
| 18 July 1973 v
New Zealand
|
---|
Last ODI
| 14 February 1982 v
Sri Lanka
|
---|
|
---|
|
Years
| Team
|
1963?1987
| Kent
|
---|
|
---|
|
|
|
---|
|
Derek Leslie Underwood
MBE
(8 June 1945 ? 15 April 2024) was an English international
cricketer
. In retirement he became president of the
Marylebone Cricket Club
(MCC) in 2008.
Through much of his career, Underwood was regarded as one of the best
bowlers
in Test cricket. Although classified as a slow left-arm orthodox spin bowler, Underwood bowled at around
medium pace
. He was often unplayable on seaming English wickets, particularly
sticky wickets
, earning his nickname 'Deadly'.
Underwood was a
first-class
bowler from his teens and took his 100th Test wicket and 1,000th first-class wicket in 1971, aged only 25. Only
George Lohmann
and
Wilfred Rhodes
had secured a thousand wickets at an earlier age.
[1]
His England career ended when he went on the rebel tour to South Africa, finishing his Test career with 297 wickets.
On 16 July 2009, Underwood was inducted into the
ICC Cricket Hall of Fame
.
[2]
Early life and county career
[
edit
]
Underwood was born in Bromley Maternity Hospital, the second son of Leslie Frank Underwood and Evelyn Annie Wells.
[3]
His early days were spent watching his father, a right-arm medium pace bowler, play for Farnborough Cricket Club, where elder brother Keith also played.
[3]
Underwood was educated at
Beckenham and Penge Grammar School for Boys
and in 1961 he took all ten wickets for the school's first XI, of which his brother was the captain, against
Bromley Grammar School
.
[3]
Underwood played county cricket for
Kent
, making his
first-class
debut against
Yorkshire
aged 17 in
1963
. He became the youngest player to take 100
County Championship
wickets in a debut season.
[1]
He went on to take 100 wickets in a season a further nine times. His batting was less accomplished, averaging barely over ten runs per innings in 676 matches.
[4]
He remained at Kent for 24 years, the whole of his first-class career.
[5]
Underwood made his only first-class century for Kent against Sussex in 1984 aged 39, having batted as a nightwatchman.
[5]
Test career
[
edit
]
Underwood took the last four
Australian
wickets in 27 balls in the final half an hour at the end of the fifth Test in 1968, after a heavy thunderstorm on the fifth day had all but ended the match, to square an
Ashes series
that Australia were winning 1?0.
[1]
He was named in 1969 as one of the
Wisden
Cricketers of the Year
. Underwood also toured
Australia in 1970?71
, dismissing
Terry Jenner
to win the seventh Test at
Sydney
, and regain
the Ashes
.
[4]
According to the retrospective
ICC Test bowler rankings
, Underwood was ranked number 1 in the world from September 1969 to August 1973. He reached a peak rating of 907 after his 12-wicket haul against New Zealand in the
1971 series
.
[6]
He was England's leading wicket taker with spin.
[5]
Underwood was noted for his consistent accuracy, and his inswinging
arm ball
was particularly noted for dismissing batsmen
leg before wicket
.
Keith Dunstan
wrote that he was "inclined to wear a hole in the pitch by dropping the ball on the same spot ...".
[7]
Underwood used to say that bowling was a "low mentality profession: plug away, line and length, until there's a mistake",
[8]
and sooner or later every batsman would make a mistake.
World Series Cricket and rebel South African tour
[
edit
]
Underwood was one of six England cricketers (the others being
John Snow
,
Alan Knott
,
Dennis Amiss
,
Bob Woolmer
and
Tony Greig
), to feature in
Kerry Packer
's
World Series Cricket
in the late 1970s.
[9]
He also went on the
rebel tour South Africa
in 1981?82, bringing his England career to an end as it was in defiance of the sporting ban against the
apartheid
state. For this he and the other rebels were banned from international cricket for three years.
[10]
Later career
[
edit
]
Underwood was almost unplayable on damp wickets, but on dry tracks he would often push the ball through a little quicker and flatter, not wanting to risk being hit over his head, which he always hated.
[1]
At the age of 39, he scored his first and only first-class century (111), in his 591st first-class match in July 1984. It was played at
Hastings
, a favourite bowling haunt for Underwood who, having gone in to bat as
nightwatchman
, finally reached the hundred mark in his 618th first-class innings. The cricket writer Colin Bateman noted, "there was no more popular century that summer".
[1]
Underwood retired from cricket in 1987, at the age of 42, having taken 2,465 wickets at a little over 20 apiece.
[1]
Recognition
[
edit
]
Underwood was appointed a
Member of the Order of the British Empire
(MBE) in the
1981 New Year Honours
for services to cricket.
[11]
In 1997, he became patron of the
Primary Club
, and in 2008 it was announced that he would serve as president of MCC for the following year.
[12]
In a
Wisden
article in 2004, he was selected as a member of England's greatest
post-war
XI.
[13]
Underwood was appointed an
honorary fellow
of
Canterbury Christ Church University
at a ceremony held at
Canterbury Cathedral
on 30 January 2009.
[14]
Personal life
[
edit
]
Underwood married Dawn Sullivan in October 1973 and they had two daughters.
[15]
Underwood became a consultant for ClubTurf Cricket Limited, joining his brother Keith who had become managing director.
[16]
On 15 April 2024, Underwood died from complications of dementia at the age of 78.
[6]
[5]
[17]
[18]
Richard Thompson
, chair of the
England and Wales Cricket Board
, said that "Underwood will be remembered as one of the finest spin bowlers this country has ever produced, and his remarkable record is testament to his enduring skill."
[5]
Publications
[
edit
]
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
Bateman, Colin (1993).
If The Cap Fits
. Tony Williams Publications. p. 173.
ISBN
1-869833-21-X
.
- ^
"Border, Harvey, Gower, Underwood inducted into Hall of Fame"
. Archived from
the original
on 22 August 2009
. Retrieved
16 July
2009
.
- ^
a
b
c
Crofton & Barlett, 2004, p. 6
- ^
a
b
"Derek Underwood"
. ESPN
. Retrieved
15 April
2024
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
"Derek Underwood: England and Kent great dies aged 78"
. BBC Sport. 15 April 2024
. Retrieved
15 April
2024
.
- ^
a
b
"Derek Underwood 1945?2024"
.
Kent Cricket
. 15 April 2024
. Retrieved
15 April
2024
.
- ^
Richard Whitington
,
Captains Outrageous? Cricket in the seventies
, Stanley Paul, 1972, p. 60
- ^
Chris Cowdrey and Jonathan Smith,
Good Enough
, Pelham Books, 1986, p. 280
- ^
"Derek Underwood, England's greatest spin bowler, dies aged 78"
.
The Guardian
. 15 April 2024
. Retrieved
15 April
2024
.
- ^
"The Dirty Dozen"
. ESPN
. Retrieved
15 April
2024
.
- ^
"No. 48467"
.
The London Gazette
(Supplement). 30 December 1980. p. 17.
- ^
"Underwood named MCC President"
.
Kent Messenger
. 2 October 2008
. Retrieved
16 April
2024
.
- ^
"Hutton leads England's greatest post-war XI"
. ESPNcricinfo
. Retrieved
23 January
2022
.
- ^
"Widdecombe, Holland and Underwood are appointed honorary fellows"
.
Canterbury Christ Church University
. 3 February 2009. Archived from
the original
on 20 July 2011
. Retrieved
19 August
2009
.
- ^
Crofton & Bartlett, 2004, p. 7
- ^
"ClubTurf | ClubTurf Cricket Limited"
.
Clubturf.com
. Retrieved
23 January
2022
.
- ^
Mason, Peter (15 April 2024).
"Derek Underwood obituary"
.
The Guardian
. Retrieved
15 April
2024
.
- ^
"Derek Underwood obituary: Spin bowler considered one of England's all-time greats"
.
The Times
. 15 April 2024
. Retrieved
15 April
2024
.
Further reading
[
edit
]
External links
[
edit
]