Denis Compton

Denis Compton

Personal information
Full name	Denis Charles Scott Compton
Born	23 May 1918(1918-05-23) Hendon, Middlesex, England
Died	23 April 1997(1997-04-23) (aged 78) Windsor, Berkshire, England
Height	5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)
Batting style	Right-handed
Bowling style	Slow left-arm chinamen
International information
National side	England
Test debut (cap 297)	14 August 1937 v New Zealand
Last Test	5 March 1957 v South Africa
Domestic team information
Years	Team
1936–1964	MCC
1936–1958	Middlesex
1944/45 – 1945/46	Europeans (India)
1944/45	Holkar
Career statistics
Competition	Test	FC
Matches	78	515
Runs scored	5807	38942
Batting average	50.06	51.85
100s/50s	17/28	123/183
Top score	278	300
Balls bowled	2710	36640
Wickets	25	622
Bowling average	56.40	32.27
5 wickets in innings	1	19
10 wickets in match	0	3
Best bowling	5/70	7/36
Catches/stumpings	49/–	416/–
Source: Cricinfo, 23 April 1997

Denis Charles Scott Compton CBE (23 May 1918 in Hendon, Middlesex – 23 April 1997 in Windsor, Berkshire) was an English cricketer who played in 78 Test matches, and a footballer. He spent the whole of his cricket career with Middlesex and most of his football career at Arsenal F.C..

In 2009 Compton was inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame.^[1]

Cricket career

Denis Compton was the second son of Harry and Jessie Compton; his older brother was Les Compton. He was educated at an elementary school and joined the MCC groundstaff at Lord's in 1934. By the late 1930s he was a leading England batsman and remained at the top of his profession for some twenty years. His dashing approach to batting and the sheer enjoyment he exuded endeared him to a generation of cricket lovers. As an all-rounder Compton was a right-hand bat and a slow left-arm Chinaman bowler.

In 1947 he thrilled a war-weary English public by breaking record after record in scoring 3816 runs; he scored 18 centuries. 753 of those runs came against the touring South Africans. This season was the summit of a glittering career that began on the ground staff at Lord's; selection for Middlesex followed in 1936 and England the following year.

He scored his first Test century aged just 19 in 1938 against Don Bradman's touring Australians. Later in the same series he scored a match-saving 76 not out at Lord's; this innings was scored on a rain-affected pitch and greatly impressed Don Bradman. In 1939 he scored 2468 runs for the season, including 120 against the West Indies at Lord's.

As with many other sportsmen of his generation he lost some of his best years to the Second World War, during which he served in the army in India. It was in India, however, that he began his close friendship with his Australian counterpart as Test cricketer, footballer and national hero, Keith Miller. They played against each other in the match at Calcutta between the Australian Services team and East Zone. The match was interrupted by rioting when Compton was on 94 and one of the rioters who had invaded the pitch ran up to Compton and said "Mr Compton, you very good player, but the match must stop now", which Miller gleefully repeated whenever Compton came to the crease subsequently. In recognition of their friendship and rivalry, the ECB and Cricket Australia decided in 2005 that the player adjudged the Player of the Series in the Ashes would be awarded the Compton-Miller medal.

In England toured Australia in the 1946-47 Ashes series and though they were beaten by the powerful Australian team, Compton distinguished himself by scoring a century in each innings of the Adelaide Test. Back in England in 1947 he had a glorious season.

Two of his finest innings were played against the formidable Australian side of 1948. In the First Test at Trent Bridge he scored 184 in the second innings after Australia had established a first innings lead of 344, and it looked as though he might save the match for England until he lost his balance to a short-pitched ball from Miller and hit his wicket. In the Third Test at Old Trafford, he made 145 not out in the first innings, when no other batsman made more than 37. Early in his innings he tried to hook a Ray Lindwall bouncer, but edged the ball onto his head. He had to retire hurt, and needed two stitches, but returned to the crease at 119-5 and enabled England to reach 363. This was the only match that England did not lose, and if so much time had not been lost to the weather they might have won it. In the series he made 562 runs at 62.44, against fierce fast bowling from Lindwall, Miller and Bill Johnston.

On the MCC tour of South Africa 1948-49 he scored 300 against North-Eastern Transvaal in just a minute over three hours - still the fastest triple-century ever in first-class cricket. His first hundred took 66 minutes (he said, "I was getting a sight of the bowling"), his second 78 minutes (he was not out overnight and had to play himself in again next morning), and his third hundred took just 37 minutes. Reminiscing about the match later, Compton compared the South Africans' bowling with a decent county side, but criticised their catching (he had been dropped before he reached 20).^[2]

A picture of misery; Denis Compton leaving the Melbourne Cricket Ground after having been told he was unfit to play in the Second Test due to his swollen knee. In a roller-coaster tour he averaged 7.57 in the Test series and 92.11 in his other First Class matches.

He toured Australia for 1950-51 Ashes series as vice-captain, the first professional in the 20th century to be awarded the position, but had a dismal tour due to a recurring knee problem caused by an old football injury. He averaged only 7.57 in the Tests, but 92.11 in his other first-class matches. He became the first professional to captain the MCC for an entire game, Jack Hobbs having taken over from the injured Arthur Carr in 1924-25. He and Len Hutton made the winning runs in the Fifth Test at Melbourne, the first time Australia had been beaten since 1938. On the 1954-55 tour his departure was delayed for a remedial operation on his knee and he joined the team in Australia by plane. In the First Test at Brisbane he badly cut his hand when he hit a billboard while fielding and batted at the bottom of the order. He missed the Second Test. He came third in the England Test averages (38.20), but topped the tour averages (57.07) and made three centuries. In his last Test against Australia in 1956 he made a dazzling 94 despite having just had his right kneecap removed.

Compton finished his cricket career after playing 78 Test matches with 17 centuries at an average of 50.06. In all first-class cricket he scored 123 centuries.

Compton jointly captained Middlesex County Cricket Club between 1951 and 1952, with W.J. Edrich.

Football career

Personal information
Playing position	Outside Left
Youth career
1933–1935	Nunhead
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
1936–1950	Arsenal	54	(15)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. † Appearances (Goals).

Compton also played football, beginning his career at non-league Nunhead during the 1934–35 season before joining Arsenal. A winger, he made his debut in 1936, and won the League in 1948 and the FA Cup in 1950. However, the latter part of his sporting career was dogged by knee trouble: the knee had been damaged in a collision with the Charlton goalkeeper; he was limited to 60 official (i.e. non-wartime) appearances and 16 goals. He represented England in wartime 12 times, but never in a full official match.

Personality and legacy

Compton's absent-mindedness was legendary. Colin Cowdrey writes that Compton turned up for the Old Trafford Test of 1955 against South Africa without his kitbag. Undaunted, he sauntered into the museum and, borrowing an antique bat off the display, went on to score 155 and 79 not out. This absent-mindedness was particularly obvious in his tendency to run out his partners at the crease: Trevor Bailey declared that 'a call for a run from Compton should be treated as no more than a basis for negotiation.' Typically, at his brother Leslie's benefit match in 1955, he managed to run him out before he had faced a single ball.

Peter Parfitt, the Middlesex and England batsman, was a speaker at a major celebration in London for Compton's 70th birthday. He claims that the chief guest was called to the telephone by a lady who had heard about the dinner: eventually, he agreed to take the call. "Denis," she said, "it's me, your mother. You're not 70, you're only 69."

Denis Compton's career performance graph.

After retiring from sport, Denis Compton became a journalist and later a commentator for BBC Television. He was made a CBE in 1958. He became the first former professional cricketer to be elected President of Middlesex County Cricket Club in 1991. He served two terms, until a week before his death from septicaemia in Windsor, Berkshire aged 78.

The MCC named the twin stands at the Nursery End at Lord's Cricket Ground, in his and Denis Compton's honour. Cricket writer, Colin Bateman, noted, "it is a dull, practical structure which does little justice to their mercurial talents and indomitable spirits".^[3]

He was also honoured at the Shenley Cricket Centre, where the main pitch is named the Denis Compton Oval. This is where his grandson, Nick Compton, set the Middlesex record for the 6th wicket partnership in List A cricket (142* BL Hutton & NRD Compton v Lancashire at Shenley 2002).

Commercial sponsorships

With his contemporary the footballer Stanley Matthews Compton was the first British sportsman to make a substantial living by exploiting his sporting reputation to provide advertisements and endorsements. For many years he was the public face of the Brylcreem range of men's haircare products (for an example see page viii of the 1955 edition of Wisden Cricketers' Almanack).

Family life

His elder brother Leslie also played cricket for Middlesex and football for Arsenal and England. Denis was married three times with three sons (Brian and the Natal cricketers Patrick and Richard) and two daughters. His grandson Nick is currently playing for Somerset County Cricket Club, having previously played for Middlesex.

Test centuries

The following table summarises the Test centuries scored by Denis Compton.

• In the column Runs, * indicates being not out.
• The column title Match refers to the Match Number of his career.

Denis Compton's Test Centuries[4]
#	Runs	Match	Against	City/Country	Venue	Year	Result
[1]	102	2	Australia	Nottingham, England	Trent Bridge	1938	Drawn
[2]	120	6	West Indies	London, England	Lord's	1939	Won
[3]	147	15	Australia	Adelaide, Australia	Adelaide Oval	1947	Drawn
[4]	103*
[5]	163	18	South Africa	Nottingham, England	Trent Bridge	1947	Drawn
[6]	208	19	South Africa	London, England	Lord's	1947	Won
[7]	115	20	South Africa	Manchester, England	Old Trafford	1947	Won
[8]	113	22	South Africa	London, England	Kennington Oval	1947	Drawn
[9]	184	23	Australia	Nottingham, England	Trent Bridge	1948	Lost
[10]	145*	25	Australia	Manchester, England	Old Trafford	1948	Drawn
[11]	114	29	South Africa	Johannesburg, South Africa	Ellis Park	1948	Drawn
[12]	114	33	New Zealand	Leeds, England	Headingley	1949	Drawn
[13]	116	34	New Zealand	London, England	Lord's	1949	Drawn
[14]	112	44	South Africa	Nottingham, England	Trent Bridge	1951	Lost
[15]	133	58	West Indies	Port of Spain, Trinidad	Queen's Park Oval	1954	Drawn
[16]	278	61	Pakistan	Nottingham, England	Trent Bridge	1954	Won
[17]	158	70	South Africa	Manchester, England	Old Trafford	1955	Lost

References

1. ^ "Benaud, Gooch, Compton, Larwood and Woolley inducted into Cricket Hall of Fame". http://www.thesportscampus.com/200907171413/test-cricket/hof-inducted. 
2. ^ Compton's 300 remembered
3. ^ Bateman, Colin (1993). If The Cap Fits. Tony Williams Publications. pp. 58–59. ISBN 1-869833-21-X. 
4. ^ Statsguru: Denis Compton, Cricinfo, 16 March 2010.

External links

• Cricinfo Player Profile : Denis Charles Scott Compton
• Denis Compton - Daily Telegraph obituary

Sporting positions
Preceded by Walter Robins	Middlesex County Cricket Captain 1951–1952 (jointly with Bill Edrich)	Succeeded by Bill Edrich

Persondata
Name	Compton, Denis
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	23 May 1918
Place of birth	Hendon, Middlesex
Date of death	23 April 1997
Place of death	Windsor, Berkshire