Denis Compton | England Cricket | Cricket Players and Officials | ESPN Cricinfo Profile Wisden obituary Denis Compton, who died on April 23, 1997, aged 78, was not just a great cricketer but a character who transcended the game and became what would now be called a national icon. In the years after the war, when the British were still finding the joys of victory elusive, the exuberance of Compton's batting and personality became a symbol of national renewal. Almost single-handed (though his pal Bill Edrich helped), he ensured that cricket returned to its pre-war place in the nation's affections. Only Ian Botham has ever come remotely close to matching this achievement. Compton was a remarkable batsman: loose-limbed with broad shoulders and powerful forearms. He could play all the strokes, though he rarely straight-drove. What made him special was his audacity: he would take risks, standing outside the crease even to quickish bowlers, challenging them to bowl anything other than the length he wanted.

He took 622 wickets, mostly with his chinamen, and any other player might have turned this skill into a career; Compton regarded them as a bit of a party trick. His running between the wickets was never good, but it seemed to get worse after he retired and became the source of a thousand after-dinner jokes. In reality, it was never a disastrous weakness. Denis Compton was born in Hendon, on May 23, 1918, and described his childhood as both poorish and happy. His father was a self-employed decorator who became a lorry driver when his business foundered. He was also a keen cricketer, as was Leslie, Denis's elder brother. They played against the lamp-posts in Alexandra Road and at Bell Lane Elementary School, and Compton's talent was obvious at once. At 12, he was playing for his father's team, and North London Schools against South London Schools at Lord's. He made 88. Two years later, watched by Sir Pelham Warner, he made 114 at Lord's for the Elementary Schools against C. F. Tufnell's XI and led his team to a crushing victory.

He joined the Lord's staff in 1933, and three years later got a game for the county, as an 18-year-old against Sussex in the Whitsun match. Compton batted at No. 11: he scored 14 in an important last-wicket stand with Gubby Allen that gave Middlesex first-innings points; the umpire Bill Bestwick supposedly said later that he only gave Compton lbw because he was desperate for a pee. Next match he was No. 8 and facing Larwood with confidence. Then he was No. 7, scoring 87 against Northamptonshire. In one game, the captain Walter Robins came down the pitch after he had driven a fast bowler for two consecutive fours. You know what to look out for now, don't you? No, skipper. Well, he'll bounce one at you. If he does, I shall hook him. And he did - into the Mound Stand. Before June was out he scored a hundred, in an hour and three-quarters, at Northampton.

By the time the season was over and he had passed a thousand runs, Warner, then chairman of the Test selectors, called him the best young batsman who has come out since Walter Hammond was a boy. But Compton had no time to relax. In September he made his Football League debut for Arsenal on the left wing against Derby County, scored the opening goal in a 2-2 draw, and was called the success of the afternoon by the Daily Express. Soon he was being marked out as a future England footballer as well as cricketer, despite criticism, which Compton always accepted, that he was inclined to prefer pretty ball-play to anything else. In cricket, the golden youth's progress turned out to be stoppable only by the Germans. In 1937 he scored 1,980 runs and was picked by England against New Zealand at the Oval. He scored 65 and was run out, flukily, while backing up. That year, as Pasty Hendren retired, Bill Edrich qualified for Middlesex. Len Hutton also made his Test debut. Thus started both the great partnership and the great rivalry that were to dominate post-war cricket.

The contrast between the serious-minded Hutton and the insouciant Compton would be the great divide in English cricket for years, and small boys of all ages invariably inclined to one or the other. Next time Compton batted for England, against Australia at Trent Bridge in 1938, he made 102; then came a match-saving yet exuberant 76 not out at Lord's. But he contributed just a single when Hutton scored his 364 at The Oval. Compton preferred to play football rather than tour South Africa- the 10-day Test at Durban would not have suited him - but in 1939 was back to top cricketing form, scoring 2,468 runs, including 120 against West Indies at Lord's, when he put on 248 with Hutton in two hours 20 minutes. There is no telling what this generation of batsmen might have achieved had they not been so rudely interrupted. Possibly, in the absence of equally compelling bowlers, they might have got bored. They never had the chance to find out.

Soon Compton was a special constable and then a member of the Royal Artillery, posted first to East Grinstead which still allowed the chance of weekend football. (He won 12 wartime and Victory match football caps for England, which did not officially count, but many contemporaries agreed that he was now the best outside-left in the country.) In 1944 he was sent to India as a sergeant-major supposedly in charge of getting men fit to defeat Japan; his lenient approach to this task enhanced his popularity with the men, and the Allies still won the war. He was able to fit in 17 first-class matches in India as well. His performances included a century for East Zone against the Australian Services, which was interrupted by rioters for several minutes when he was in the nineties. The line Mr. Compton, you very good player but the game must stop became one of the catch-phrases of his friendship with Keith Miller, which ended only with Compton's death. Compton also appeared, in the casual manner of that era, in the extraordinary Ranji Trophy final of 1944-45, then the highest-scoring match ever, between Holkar and Bombay.

Compton struggled at first in 1946, and his first 12 months of post-war cricket are sometimes thought of as a failure. He was still the leading scorer with 2,403 runs in 1946, and made a hundred in each innings at the Adelaide Test the following February. Because Compton had been touring, he missed that icy, fuel-rationed winter which for many people in Britain was tougher than anything produced by the war. Thus the stage was set for the greatest cricket season any individual has ever had. Compton did not really hit form until the season was a month old, and did not emerge into his full glory until the sun came out, and the series against South Africa began. He scored 753 of his 3,816 runs that summer in the Tests. But somehow, in the mind's eye of a generation, he was always batting at Lord's in a county match: hair tousled, the ball racing past cover point or backward of square. An exile in Australia complained: I hardly expected him to score 18 hundreds in a season. I thought him too good a player for that sort of thing.

He was assured that Compton had just played his natural game and the centuries - like his aggregate, a record for any season - had been almost incidental. Even more incidentally, Compton and Edrich took Middlesex to the Championship. The only cloud in that perfect summer came in the very last county match at Lord's: Compton had to retire to the pavilion because of knee trouble. He came out to make a second-innings century, another against the South Africans, and a further 246 - the knee strapped - for Middlesex against The Rest at The Oval. But from then on the words Compton and knee were to go together almost as easily as Compton and Edrich. Apparently, it was first damaged in a collision with Charlton goalkeeper Sid Hobbins in 1938, but it now became increasingly troublesome to him, and a constant source of worry for the public too. There were still many great innings - two big Test hundreds in 1948 against Bradman's invincible Australians, an astounding 300 in three hours against an admittedly weak North-Eastern Transvaal team a few months later - but they came less certainly.

As a cricketer his zenith had been so high that the only possible way was down. He was, however, now much more than a cricketer. On the 1948-49 tour of South Africa, he approached the journalist Reg Hayter with a suitcase full of unopened letters. Hayter started to go through them and found one from the News of the World offering £2,000 a year for a weekly column. Then he found another, written a few months later, withdrawing the offer because there had been no reply. Hayter introduced Compton to Bagenal Harvey, who became the first sportsman's agent, and did the famous deal in which Compton slicked down his hair and became forever identified with Brylcreem. In the spring of 1950 he was still able to come out of footballing semi-retirement, get into the Arsenal team during their FA Cup run and get a winner's medal at Wembley, where they beat Liverpool 2-0. But in the Whitsun game against Sussex, his knee gave way and he missed much of that summer. He failed horribly in the Tests in Australia in the winter.

In May 1951, after being appointed joint captain of Middlesex with Edrich, he scored 909 runs, more than in May 1947, but Compton's knee was by now entering national folklore, his appearances were becoming curtailed, and his ambition less intense. The runs still kept coming: he made the hit that won the Ashes in 1953, and in 1954, against Pakistan, there came both his highest Test score, 278 at Trent Bridge, and the innings he was inclined to regard as his best, 53 on a wet pitch at The Oval. He scored 492 in the 1955 Tests against South Africa. That November he had his right kneecap removed; his surgeon kept it as a souvenir, before giving it to MCC as part of the Lord's archive. Compton's biographer, Tim Heald, examined it and reported that it was like a medium-sized mushroom, honey-coloured and honey-combed. The operation enabled him to carry on playing for another two seasons, and to tour South Africa in 1956-57.

He left county cricket as triumphantly as he entered it, hitting 143 in three hours in his final match as a professional for Middlesex in 1957. Thereafter he made occasional appearances as an amateur, scored his 123rd first-class hundred for the Cavaliers on a sociable trip to Jamaica in January 1964, and finally bowed out with a fifty for MCC against Lancashire later that year. By then, he had become a thoroughly successful ex-cricketer, commentating for the BBC, writing pieces for the Sunday Express that were usually absurdly optimistic about the talents of iffy young cricketers, and using his natural readiness to have a drink and a chat with anyone to win accounts (successfully) for advertising agencies, first Royds then McCanns. He remained a bit of a roisterer into old age and maintained the friendships of his playing days until death. Edrich and Miller were at the top of this list; but it extended to all the South Africans he had found such chivalrous opponents and generous hosts.

This led him to take the pro-white South Africa side in the disputes that followed his retirement and to be used on occasion - such as the 1983 debate over sending an MCC team to South Africa - by those with dubious motives. He never lost the slightly chaotic ingenuousness that was responsible for the suitcase of letters: he was always unpunctual and would arrive, as Michael Parkinson put it, in a cloud of dust even when he was walking with a stick. His home life was successful only serially, but his third and last wife provided two daughters to add to his earlier families, which helped keep him young. He was always young at heart, even towards the end when the pain from his hip merged with the pain from his knee. He died in hospital at Windsor on St. George's Day, following complications from his third hip operation. His memorial service at Westminster Abbey created more applications for tickets than any in 30 years. Cricket was hugely fortunate that such a gifted sportsman graced the game with his presence. It was doubly blessed that he was a man of modesty, charm and good nature.

Read More Denis Compton - Telegraph Sport Obituaries Denis Compton Denis Compton, who has died aged 78, was one of the greatest and most dashing of all English batsmen. 12:01AM BST 24 Apr 1997 He was at his zenith after the Second World War, when in four summers and two overseas tours - to Australia in 1946-47 and to South Africa in 1948-49 - he scored 14,641 runs and made 60 centuries. But statistics tell little of a player whose genius was born of daring and improvisation. Compton used a light (2 lb 2 oz) bat - though a tendency to leave his equipment behind meant that he was sometimes obliged to pick up whatever he could find - and he wielded it as a rapier rather than a bludgeon. His trademark was the sweep, of which he deployed several different varieties and which he did not hesitate to play off balls that would have hit the middle stump. He relished the opportunity to hook bumpers.

On one occasion, having slipped and fallen flat on his back in mid-stroke, he managed to execute a one-handed late cut that sent the ball winging to the boundary. In the late 1940s Compton became a national idol, his Brylcreemed form staring down from posters all over the land. Sir Neville Cardus perfectly caught the manner in which he irradiated a drab post-war Britain. "Never have I been so deeply touched on a cricket ground," Cardus wrote, "as I was in this heavenly summer of 1947 when I went to Lord's to see a pale-faced crowd, existing on rations, the rocket-bomb still in the ears of most folks - and see this worn, dowdy crowd raptly watching Compton. "The strain of long years of anxiety and affliction passed from all heads and shoulders at the sight of Compton in full sail, sending the ball here, there, and everywhere, each stroke a flick of delight, a propulsion of happy, sane, healthy life.

There were no rations in an innings by Compton," The Corinthian image created when playing for Middlesex and England in the summer was fortified in the winter when Compton turned his attention to football. He was good enough to hold his place in the great Arsenal sides before and after the war, collecting both a League and a Cup medal. He also won 14 wartime international caps for England. By 1950, when he appeared in the Cup Final against Liverpool, he was already into his thirties, inclined to run out of puff, and troubled by a notorious knee injury. In the first half, in his own words, he "played a stinker"; in the second, fuelled by a mammoth slug of whisky administered by Alex James, he put in a dazzling performance. His excised knee cap, incidentally, is now kept at Lord's. "It's a revolting thing," Compton observed, "looks as if rats have been nipping at it. I can't imagine why anyone would want to look at it." As a professional, Compton necessarily played games to win; chiefly, though, he played them for fun.

The attention he gave to events on the field was often divided with his concern for the fortunes of the horses which he had backed that afternoon. He lives in the minds of all who saw him, and of many who did not, as the cavalier of cricket. He was appointed CBE in 1958, had a stand named after him at Lord's (over mid-on looking out from the pavilion, on the left of the sightscreen), and was for the last seven years president of Middlesex County Cricket Club. Yet the old champion did not entirely approve of the modern game. He hated the helmets, the visors and the chest protectors. Above all, he hated the grimness that afflicts English cricketers. "I would dearly love the boys to go out there like playboys," he remarked in 1993, "play off the back foot, and enjoy it." Denis Charles Scott Compton was born on May 23 1918, the son of Jessie and Harry Compton, who ran a painting and decorating business in Hendon. There was a sister, and an elder brother, Leslie, who would be centre-half for Arsenal and England, and wicketkeeper for Middlesex.

Denis was educated at Bell Lane School, and learnt his cricket up against the lamp post in Alexandra Road, Hendon. His father captained Bell Lane School's old boys' team and used to take his sons along to matches. The day came when the team were one short, and the 12-year-old Denis was drafted in - to the derision of the opposition who protested that they could not bowl properly to one so small. They were told to bowl as fast as they liked, and did so, only to find the ball conjured to all parts of the ground. Denis Compton already knew that the No 13 bus went from Hendon to Lord's. At 14 he made his first appearance at the ground, captaining the Elementary Schools and duly making a century. The innings caught the eye of Sir Pelham Warner, and the next summer Compton was recruited to the MCC groundstaff at Lord's. He started at the foot of the ladder as a one of the "Nippers" or "Roller boys" who were put to various ground duties and received net practice and tuition. His salary was 25 shillings a week, the same amount as he was paid in the winter by Arsenal.

Compton had little need of formal tuition, for the basic principles of batting came naturally to him. At 15 he scored a century for the MCC against Suffolk at Felixstowe; two years later he shared in a century partnership with E W Swanton for Middlesex 2nd XI against Kent Second XI at Folkestone. Later in the week, a few days after his 18th birthday, he was promoted to the full county side for the Whitsuntide match against Sussex at Lord's. Sussex made only a modest 185 in their first innings, but when Compton came in to bat, at No 11, Middlesex still required 24 for the lead. "Whatever you do, play forward," instructed Gubby Allen, his partner at the wicket. Compton played back to the first ball and saw it whistle over his stumps. Emphatically rebuked by Allen, he stayed at the crease to make 14 and secure the first innings lead. Three weeks later he scored his maiden first-class century, at Northampton.

By the end of 1936 he had passed the 1,000 mark, won his county cap, and only narrowly missed being selected for the England tour of Australia. Emphatically, he was on his way. E W Swanton writes: What marked Denis Compton's batting from the first was a sense of enjoyment in it all, of risks taken and bowlers teased, that at once communicated itself to the crowd. Yet, while it was the liberties he sometimes took which were written and talked about, when the need arose his defence could be as orthodox as anyone's. He was only 20 when, in 1938, with all the poise and coolness of an old hand he saved England from probable defeat against Australia at Lord's in an innings of 76 not out. A fortnight earlier, in his first Test against Australia at Trent Bridge on a perfect wicket, he had made the fourth hundred of the innings, following those of Barnet, Hutton and Paynter.

But it was in the Lord's game, on a pitch made awkward by rain, before that most discriminating of crowds, that he buckled down to the job and showed both the full range of his skill and the temperament to go with it. H e had been chosen first for England in the Third and last Test of the 1937 summer against New Zealand, making 65 before, as the non-striker, being run out from an accidental diversion by the bowler. That was pure ill-luck, but prophetic in that the one flaw in his batting was running between wickets. His great friend and partner, W J Edrich, is credited with the remark that Denis's initial call was no more than a basis for negotiation. This happy-go-lucky approach - banished only at the crease when things really mattered - occasionally tested the patience of his captains. Hence J J Warr's remark that Compton took 415 catches in the course of his career "when he was looking".

As might be expected, Compton did not thrive on leadership, either as vice-captain to F R Brown on the Australia tour of 1950-51 or with Middlesex when he and Edrich shared the captaincy in 1951 and 1952. He was too pressed in organising himself to relish the responsibility of looking after 10 others. His personality was otherwise expressed. Good-looking and debonair, Compton was the idol of spectators everywhere, in Australia, South Africa and the West Indies, as well as at home. To a war-weary nation, aching for entertainment, he was the national "pin-up", a hero dangerously exalted who was yet never spoiled. Compton was one of the first sportsmen for whom an agent was an urgent necessity, to cope not only with commercial approaches but cascading fan-mail. The annus mirabilis was 1947 when he made 3,816 runs (easily topping Tom Hayward's record 3,518, made in 1906).

His 18 hundreds that year exceeded the record 16 of Sir Jack Hobbs, made in 1925; his average was 90. It was a gloriously hot, dry summer during which the South Africans suffered most from his bat, to the tune of six hundreds, four of them in Tests. Compton, however, was never an accumulator for the sake of it; and it was only Middlesex's need for plenty of quick runs in their successful chase of the County Championship that sustained his appetite. Perhaps his two greatest innings were those against Bradman's all-conquering Australians in 1948: 184 at Trent Bridge in an eerie, yellow light with Lindwall and Miller at their fastest, and 145 not out at Old Trafford. This was the time when, within a few minutes of going in, he was obliged to retire for stitches to a cut eyebrow, sustained in hooking at a no-ball from Lindwall. We saw now, in the words of Neville Cardus, the Ironside breastplate as well as the Cavalier plume.

Bandaged but indomitable, he returned to play an innings which laid the foundation of what would likely have been an England victory had the weather not interfered. At this point, he had made eight hundreds in the last 10 Tests, a sequence which only Bradman had achieved. But now, at his peak, an old football injury to Compton's right knee began to give out danger signals. For a while the surgeons and "physios" contrived to keep him on the field, and in the spring of 1950, in his last game of football, with the knee heavily bandaged, he helped Arsenal to victory in the Cup Final. Within a few weeks he was hobbling off the field at Lord's, and W E Tucker, the famous orthopaedic surgeon, was performing the first of numerous operations, which culminated in 1955 with the removal of his knee cap. In the tour of Australia in 1950-51, with English batting at its weakest, Compton had an utter failure, his only one in a Test series. He never touched again the brilliance of his golden period.

Nevertheless, handicapped in mobility as he was, he was still an automatic choice for England, and in the following three rubbers against Australia was batting at the moment of victory. The Ashes were regained in 1953 and retained in 1954-55. In 1956, at the Oval, shortly after a rigorous surgical manipulation and still with a limp, Compton faced the old enemy for the last time. Showing many glimpses of his best, he made 94, the highest score of the match, and 35 not out. Sir Donald Bradman described his 94 as the best innings of the series. The following winter Compton made his last MCC tour, to South Africa, and then announced that 1957 would be his final season. He made 1,554 runs that summer at an average of 34, and in the last match at Lord's showed his flair for the occasion by hitting the Worcestershire bowlers for a sparkling 143. Though scarcely an all-rounder in the Test sense, Compton, bowling slow left-arm, sometimes in the classical style, sometimes with wrist-spin, had days of high success.

At the Oval in 1947 against Surrey he took 12 for 174 in addition to making 137 not out. In three successive summers he bowled 2,000 overs and took 208 wickets, besides scoring 36 hundreds. Against Australia in the fateful Test at Headingley in 1948, he would surely have won the day for England on a dusty pitch if Bradman (twice) and Morris had not been missed off his bowling early in their innings. As it was, they respectively made 173 not out and 182 out of the 404 for three, which brought victory, and the rubber, to Australia. When one considers the loss of six wartime summers from the age of 21 onwards, and the later physical handicap, Compton's achievements, numerically speaking, are marvellous indeed. His 38,942 runs, including 123 hundreds, were made at an average of 51.85; his 5,807 Test runs, including 17 hundreds, at 50.

His slow left-arm bowling yielded 622 rather expensive wickets. Retiring before his 40th birthday, Compton made successful careers in advertising and in journalism with the Sunday Express, for which he wrote about cricket (generally not unaided) from 1950 to 1988. He also commentated over many years on television, often with unexpected force. Denis Compton, who died on St George's Day after a long illness, had a son by his first wife, Doris Rich, a dancer, and two sons by his second, Valerie Platt. He married thirdly, in 1975, Christine Franklin Tobias; they had two daughters. First published April 24 1997 Denis Compton The Cavalier of Cricket Denis Compton The start of this year's cricket season on St. George's Day the 23rd of April, 1997 proved to be a sad day, for the "Cavalier of Cricket" Denis Compton died.

Born on the 23rd of May, 1918 Denis Charles Scott Compton lived in Hendon, North West London where his mother Jessie and father Henry ran a Painting and Decorating business. Living with his sister and elder brother Leslie, later to become the Middlesex wicket keeper and play centre half for Arsenal and England, Dennis learnt his cricket defending the lamp post in Alexandra Road where they lived. Denis attended Bell Lane school, Hendon where his father captained the old boys cricket eleven and naturally Denis was taken to matches. When Denis was twelve his father's team found themselves a player short and he filled the vacancy, to the dismay of the visiting team, for he dispatched the ball to the boundary all round the ground. Soon making his mark Denis captained the Elementary Schools' team and made a century at Lords. The next season he joined the M.C.C. ground staff at Lords and was paid twenty five shillings a week, the same as he was getting at Arsenal football club during the winter, for he was an equally talented footballer. Now things started to happen, for at fifteen he scored a century for the M.C.C. against Suffolk at Felixstowe. At seventeen he shared a century partnership with E. W.

Swanton for Middlesex second eleven against Kent at Folkestone. At eighteen he was in the full county side batting at number eleven. The next year he was playing against New Zealand in a Test Match in which he scored 65 runs. In his first Test against Australia in 1938, when he was twenty, he became the youngest Englishman to score a Test hundred. The second world war the intervened and it was not until 1947 that Denis had a real chance to shine again. 1947 was undoubtably his best for he scored 3,816 runs including eighteen centuries with an average of 90 runs per game. He still holds the record for the fastest century scored in three hours one minute against North Eastern Transvaal in Benoni, South Africa in 1949. Using his lightweight bat, weighing two ponds two ounces, more like a fencing foil than a club, he was a delight to watch for his quick footwork allowed him to play his strokes late and enthral the crowds with his late cuts and leg sweeps. It was said that when he was on the ground there was magic in the air.

He was a delight to watch when batting and thrilled and enthused all who saw him. Denis could also bowl left handed and was famous for his chinaman, a left handed off break. His easy go manner in everyday life sometimes affected his fielding for he did not always pay attention and missed many a catch. Although a professional, playing the game he loved for money, he thought that you should play the game of cricket to enjoy yourself and this he did to the full. He always wanted to please. Denis was the first professional to have a manager and he was soon to be seen on posters and advertisements advertising Brylcreem hair cream and subsequently became known as the "Brylcreem Boy". He scored 38,942 runs, including 123 centuries made at an average of 51.8 and took 415 catches including 5,807 Test runs during his career, which was brought to an abrupt end with a football injury to his right knee that would not repair. His winters, when he was not on a cricket tour, were spent playing football for Arsenal.

Although a right handed batsman he kicked with his left foot and played on the left wing in one hundred and eighty five games for his club between 1932 and 1950 scoring 90 goals. He represented his country fourteen times at football and won an F.A. league championship medal as well as a cup winners medal in the 1950 Cup Final against Liverpool. This match unfortunately signalled the end of his sporting career for he finished with his right knee heavily bandaged. He was made a C.B.E. in 1958 and was President of the M.C.C. for seven years with the great honour of having a stand named after him at Lords. His like will never be seen again. © BA We hope that you found what you wanted and that it was of interest. To return to an index click its button below or the hat at the top of the page.

Rediff On The NeT: Denis Compton, cricketing cavalier, passes away DEAR REDIFF Denis Compton, cricket cavalier, passes away "There will be a tear in many an eye," said British Prime Minister John Major in London on Tuesday, reacting to the news that Denis Charles Scott Compton, one of the all-time greats of English cricket, passed away at the age of 78. Easily one of the all-time greats of the game, Compton was warm-hearted, carefree, careless, vague, charming - and, above all, a cricketing genius. A brilliant right-hand batsman and occasional - but destructive - purveyor of left-arm unorthodox spin, Compton was noted most especially for the poetry of his batting, allied with a certain schoolboy impishness that accompanied his shot-selection. His most pleasing stroke was the cover drive, played by the book and invariably placed just that little shade out of reach of the fielders; his most breathtaking stroke the leg glance, played with a finesse and a scarcely credible lateness that took the ball almost out of the keeper's gloves and caressed it to the fine leg fence.

And, of course, the most publicised of his strokes, the one that spectators everywhere paid good money to see him play, was the sweep - played with an audacity, played perilously late to both fast and slow bowlers. Compton, for all his unorthodoxy at the crease, was one of the soundest of technicians when he needed to be - it was just that the spirit of amateurism burnt brighter in him perhaps than in most of his contemporaries, and consequently, he shunned the mundane business of defensive strokeplay with a passion. If his cricketing technique had a defect, it lay in his running between wickets - a process almost as perilous, and as prone to confusion, as negotiations between the Jews and the Arabs, or between Serbia and Bosnia. Trevor Bailey, his contemporary, was once moved, after a stint of call and counter-call out there in the middle, to quip: "A call from Denis was merely the basis for a negotiation!" Another defect, if one can apply the term to a Compton, was a wooly-haired sense of time.

On one occasion, he was driving leisurely in the direction of Lord's when, at a traffic light, a motorist in the next car recognised him and asked him why he was not out there in the middle. Compton looked at his watch and pointed out that he had some few minutes left before start of play - only to be reminded by the motorist that it being the last day of play, proceedings began half an hour earlier than usual. When weighed against his scintillant brilliance at the crease, however, these defects mattered little. In fact, so transcendant was his popularity that the agent, Bagenal Harvey, built an entire business out of the cricketer's endorsements. His most memorable face was that of the Brylcreem Boy - in fact, he was the first cricketer to figure in ads for the hair product. Though Compton was equally talented on the soccer field, having played for Arsenal and England (he actually had 14 England caps to his credit), cricket was his first love. He debuted for his county, Middlesex, against Sussex at Lord's in 1936, featuring as a slow left arm bowler and number 11 batsman.

Soon, he was moved up the order, and in fact went on to record over 1,000 runs in his very first season with the club. In fact, he was to make 1,000 runs or more in a season 17 times in course of his career, on three occasions performing the feat on foreign soil. In 1937, he debuted for England against New Zealand at The Oval, and scored 65 before he was, what else?, run out. And in his next Test - against Australia at Trent Bridge - he scored the first of his 17 Test centuries, hitting up 102 in rapid time. Compton's football commitments for Arsenal prevented him from making the 1938-39 tour of South Africa. After the war - and most especially in that idyllic summer of 1947 when his great powers were at their peak, he dominated the international scene as few others have managed to.

In five Tests against South Africa that year, he made 753 runs at an average of 94.12, and in all first class matches that season scored an incredible 3,816 runs at an average of 90.85 - studded with 18 centuries! Compton was at his very best whenever England took on arch rivals Australia - in 1946-47 he scored 459 runs against them, and a year later, 562 runs. For such a lazy-seeming, languid cricketer, Compton was gutsy beyond belief. Old timers recall how, at Old Trafford, he took a ball from Ray Lindwall on his face and retired, bleeding - only to return and slam a breathtaking 145 not out. There is no telling just what Compton may not have achieved if a knee injury suffered while playing football had not begun to assume alarming proportions.

And Compton in fact was hampered by that injury when, in 1948-49, he slammed 300 runs in three hours for MCC against North East Transvaal, at the Benoni ground in Souuth Africa - easily the fastest triple hundred ever recorded. Compton, fittingly enough, played his last Test innings against Australia, almost immediately after an operation to remove his right kneecap. His tally - a top score of 94 in the first innings, and 35 not out in the second. For Indian fans, however, the most memorable facet of the great man's career will remain his appearance, in the colours of Holkar, in 1945-'46, when cricket was at a standstill in war-torn England. Playing alongside such greats as Mushtaq Ali and C K Nayadu, Compton's transcendent genius lit up the stadia time and again, a double century in electric fashion against Bombay being but just one of many memorable innings. Compton was awarded the CBE, and went on to become an occasional cricket correspondent and BBC commentator, occasionally turning out for the Lord's Taverers in charity matches.

Interestingly, his elder brother Leslie has played cricket for Middlesex, and soccer for Arsenal and England. In his personal life, Denis Compton was warm, but disorganised - as testified to by three marriagesm all ending in divorce. But say the name Denis Compton, and there is just one memory that will be evoked - that of a dashing cavalier, going down on one knee to sweep the fastest of bowlers from almost off his back-teeth, the ball racing to the square leg boundary with almost the speed of thought... Career stats: First class career, 1936-1964: 38,942 runs at an averaage of 51.85; 123 centuries; 622 wickets at an average of 32.27; 416 catches. Test career: Played 78 Tests, 5,807 runs at an average of 50.06; 17 centuries, 25 wickets at an average of 56.4, 49 catches.

Denis Compton : definition of Denis Compton and synonyms of Denis Compton (English) 8 External links 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 . 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 * 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 158 and 71. 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 Bill Edrich '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] # Denis Compton, Test centuries, Football career, Family life Denis Compton : biography 23 May 1918 - 23 April 1997 Compton's death, on St. George's Day, coincided with the opening of the 1997 County Championship season, and pavilion flags across the country were lowered to half-mast in his memory. The MCC named the twin stands at the Nursery End at Lord's Cricket Ground, in his and Bill Edrich's honour. Cricket writer Colin Bateman noted, "it is a dull, practical structure which does little justice to their mercurial talents and indomitable spirits". 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). 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, Cricinfo, 16 March 2010. # Lost Football career 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. Family life Compton's elder brother Leslie also played cricket for Middlesex and football for Arsenal and England. Compton was married three times; his first wife was Doris Rich, a dancer, and they had a son, Brian. With his second wife, Valerie Platt, Compton had two sons, Patrick and Richard, both of whom would go on to play cricket for Natal.

Compton married his third wife, Christine Franklin Tobias, in 1975, with whom he had two daughters, Charlotte and Victoria. His grandson Nick, son of Richard, made his Test debut against India at Ahmedabad during the England cricket team's 2012-13 tour of India. 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). Denis Compton developed a close working relationship with Royds Advertising, and its Chairman, who at that time was Nicholas Royds. Media Denis Compton is mentioned in Fawlty Towers, series 1 episode 2 "The Builders". Upon arriving back at the hotel Basil notices that his cut price builders have made a mess of some renovations.

Basil and Polly discuss whose fault this is with Basil blaming Polly "you were left in charge" and Manual "he was supposed to wake you" before Basil sarcastically asks Polly "well whose fault is it then you cloth eared bint? Denis Compton's?" Denis Compton (Cricketer) - Pics, Videos, Dating, & News Denis Compton Cricketer and Footballer Male Denis Charles Scott Compton CBE 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.… Read More related links India Vs England: Statistical Highlights, Day 2 Ndtv.Com Google News - Aug 20, 2011 'The 350-run stand is England&#39;s second highest for the third wicket in Tests, next only to the 378 between <mark>Denis Compton</mark> and Bill Edrich against South Africa at Lord&#39;s in 1947.

# Bell and Pietersen have shared seven century stands in 40 innings - 2263' Weir's Week: No Battle Of Britain, But Memories Of The Brylcreem Boy The Caledonian Mercury Google News - Aug 19, 2011 'As a kid, I was amazed to hear and read about one <mark>Denis Compton</mark>. Here was a guy who was arguably the best batsman of his day (certainly sponsors Brylcreem thought so) and, as if that wasn&#39;t enough, he also played football for the' England Suffer Whispering Death Esp Ncricinfo.Com Google News - Aug 17, 2011 'After making 128 at The Oval, classy opening batsman Vijay Merchant was run out by <mark>Denis Compton</mark>, who played for Arsenal when they won the 1950 FA Cup final.

Like the skilful winger he was, Compo ran Merchant out by kicking the ball onto the stumps' In Days Gone By With John Dowling Bexhill Observer Google News - Aug 13, 2011 'When Biggs was out for 28, the scene was set for one of the greatest cricket personalities of the day â <mark>Denis Compton</mark>. Compton did not disappoint and he made many delightful strokes in his 57. THE deficit on the Friends of the Elderly Riley House' Learn about the memorable moments in the evolution of Denis Compton. CHILDHOOD 1918 Birth Born on May 23, 1918. TEENAGE 1934 16 Years Old He was educated at an elementary school and joined the MCC ground staff at Lord's in 1934. … Read More By the late 1930s, Compton was one of England's finest batsmen, 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. Read Less 1936 18 Years Old … Compton also played football, beginning his career at non-league Nunhead during the 1934â35 season before joining Arsenal. Read Less A winger, he made his debut in 1936, and won the League in 1948 and the FA Cup in 1950. … Read More Arsenal also won the old First Division in 1937â38 but he only made seven league appearances that season. However, the latter part of his sporting career was dogged by knee trouble: the knee had been damaged in a collision with the Charlton Athletic 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. Read Less 1937 19 Years Old Compton earned his first England cap against New Zealand in 1937.

… Read More At 19 years and 83 days, he remains the third youngest England debutant ever. Read Less TWENTIES 1938 20 Years Old He scored his first Test century aged just 20 years and 19 days in 1938 against Don Bradman's touring Australians. … Read More 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. Read Less 1939 21 Years Old In 1939 he scored 2468 runs for the season, including 120 against the West Indies at Lord's. … Read More 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. He was posted at Mhow, Central India. He was granted permission to play for the Holkar team in the Ranji Trophy, India's national cricket tournament. It was in India 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. Read Less 1946 28 Years Old 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. … Read More Back in England, Compton produced a season of cricket that established him as a British household name, and one of the greatest cricketers of his era. Helped by a rare summer of sunshine, Compton thrilled the war-weary English public with his cavalier batting.

Against the touring South Africans, Compton scored five centuries, one for Middlesex and four for England, accumulating 1,056 runs at an average of 88. His aggregate in all matches that season was 3816 runs, which remains the most ever made in a season in first-class matches. Read Less 1947 29 Years Old In that season, he scored 18 centuries, with the last one scored on 15 September, 1947. … Read More Eighteen hundreds in a single season is another world record to his name.<br /><br /> According to former journalist Frank Keating, Compton's personal favourite innings of that summer was for Middlesex against Kent at Lord's. Chasing 397 to win, and needing to score at nearly 100 runs per hour, Compton led the way with a dashing 168, but Middlesex fell short by 75 runs.<br /><br /> Cricket writers Neville Cardus and John Arlott acclaimed Compton's achievements.

Cardus wrote: <br /><br /> Never have I been so deeply touched on a cricket ground as in this heavenly summer, when I went to Lord's to see a pale-faced crowd, existing on rations, the rocket-bomb still in the ears of most, and see the strain of anxiety and affliction passed from all hearts and shoulders at the sight of Compton in full sail... each stroke a flick of delight, a propulsion of happy, sane, healthy life. There were no rations in an innings by Compton. Read Less THIRTIES Show Less 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. … Read More Undaunted, he sauntered into the museum and, borrowing an antique bat off the display, went on to score 158 and 71. Nevertheless, England lost by three wickets.

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.' Read Less Typically, at his brother Leslie's benefit match in 1955, he managed to run him out before he had faced a single ball. … Read More 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." After retiring from sport, Denis Compton became a journalist and later a commentator for BBC Television.

Read Less FORTIES Wisden - Denis Compton Denis Compton 1939 home Denis Compton DENIS CHARLES SCOTT COMPTON, of Middlesex, one of the youngest cricketers ever to play for England against Australia, was born at Hendon on May 23, 1918. His activities in sport date back almost as far as he can remember. At the age of 10, he played in his school eleven, and showed form far above that of most lads of the same age. His outstanding ability did not long escape recognition. He was selected to play for the London Elementary Schools against Mr. C. F. Tufnell's XI. at Lord's, and his brilliant batting in scoring 112 so impressed those who saw it, among them Sir Pelham Warner, that Compton was induced to join the Lord's staff as soon as he left school. His achievements were not solely confined to cricket for in the same year (1932) he joined Arsenal Football club. Under the watchful care of George Fenner, and later of A.

Fowler, Compton made rapid progress, and in 1936 he gained a place in the Middlesex side against Sussex in the Whitsuntide match at Lord's. As No. 11, he went in when Middlesex required 24 runs to secure first innings lead and held out with G. O. Allen until his side was in front. His display on that occasion earned general admiration, he was immediately given a regular place in the eleven and, promoted in the batting order, Compton amply justified the faith shown in him by completing a thousand runs before the season ended. The following summer, he exceeded all expectations by scoring 1,980 runs for an average of 47 and finishing tenth in the list of first-class averages. His form so impressed the Test Selectors that, although only 19, he was chosen to play against New Zealand at Kennington Oval. Going in when three England wickets had fallen for 36 and scoring 65 besides sharing in a fourth wicket stand of 125 with Hardstaff, he proved conclusively that he possessed the big match temperament. The authorities at once realised that they had a ready-made England batsman for years to come.

Chosen in all five Tests against Australia in 1938, Compton in the first match at Nottingham accomplished what only eight other cricketers have achieved, the feat of scoring a hundred in his first Test match against Australia. During that game, he shared in a stand of 206 with Paynter--the highest recorded for the fifth wicket in the series. At the end of the summer, his aggregate fell little short of 2,000 and, scoring 180 not out against Essex, he made the top score of his career. An adaptable player with a touch of genius, Compton possesses a sound defence, a wonderful eye and the right stroke for every ball. Among the young batsmen of the day, there is no one better worth watching. He is particularly strong on the leg side and his confidence, coolness and resource are remarkable for so young a player. He has never concentrated upon bowling but he often secures valuable wickets with slow left-arm deliveries. Although not a prominent cricketer himself, Compton's father played an important part in his son's progress for he afforded him every opportunity and encouragement to pursue his inclinations for sport.

Leslie Compton, an elder brother of Denis, is also a member of the Lord's staff. © John Wisden & Co

Question: What was the first name of Denis Compton's elder brother?
Answer: Leslie