Denis Compton

Denis Charles Scott Compton CBE (23 May 1918 – 23 April 1997) was an English cricketer who played in 78 Test matches and spent his whole cricket career with Middlesex. He was also an accomplished footballer who played most of his football career at Arsenal.[1]

Denis Compton

Compton in about 1936
Personal information
Full name	Denis Charles Scott Compton
Born	(1918-05-23)23 May 1918 Hendon, Middlesex, England
Died	23 April 1997(1997-04-23) (aged 78) Windsor, Berkshire, England
Height	5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)
Batting	Right-handed
Bowling	Left arm unorthodox spin
Relations	RCD Compton (son) PMD Compton (son) NRD Compton (grandson) LH Compton (brother)
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	Marylebone Cricket Club
1936–1958	Middlesex
1944/45–1945/46	Europeans
1944/45	Holkar
Career statistics
Competition Test First-class Matches 78 515 Runs scored 5,807 38,942 Batting average 50.06 51.85 100s/50s 17/28 123/183 Top score 278 300 Balls bowled 2,710 36,640 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

A right-handed batsman and left arm unorthodox spin bowler, Compton is regularly credited as one of England's most remarkable batsmen.[2] He is one of only twenty-five players to have scored over one hundred centuries in first-class cricket.[3] In 2009, Compton was posthumously inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame.[4] The Denis Compton Oval and a stand at Lord's Cricket Ground are both named in his honour.[5][6]

Cricket career

Early years

Compton in 1939 as a gunner in the army

Compton was born and brought up in what was then the urban district of Hendon, which later became part of Greater London. He was the second son and youngest child of Henry Ernest Compton and Jessie Anne Duthie; he had one older brother, Leslie Harry (born 1912) and one older sister, Hilda (born 1913).[7] He was educated at Bell Lane Primary School and joined the MCC ground staff at Lord's Cricket Ground at the age of 15. The previous summer he had begun to make a name for himself when, at that same venue, he scored 114 as captain of an Elementary Schools XI, impressing Test selector Sir Pelham Warner.[8]

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 wrist-spin bowler.[9][10]

Compton earned his first England cap against New Zealand in 1937. At 19 years and 83 days, he remains the third youngest England debutant ever.[11] He scored his first Test century aged just 20 years and 19 days in 1938 against Don Bradman's touring Australians.[12] This broke the record, set by J.W.Hearne in 1911, for the youngest Test century by an England batsman, and remains the record to this day. 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.[10][9]

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." This was a phrase which Miller gleefully recalled whenever Compton went out to bat against the Australians.[13] 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.

1947

See also: 1947 English cricket season

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, 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,[14] 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 3,816 runs, which remains the most ever made in a season in first-class matches. In that season, he scored 18 centuries, with the last one scored on 15 September 1947. Eighteen hundreds in a single season is another world record to his name.[15]

According to journalist Frank Keating, Compton's personal favourite innings of that summer was for Middlesex against Kent at Lord's.[16] Chasing 397 to win, and needing to score at nearly 100 runs per hour,[14] Compton led the way with a dashing 168, but Middlesex fell short by 75 runs.[17]

Cricket writers Neville Cardus and John Arlott acclaimed Compton's achievements. Cardus wrote:

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.[16]

Arlott, who had written his first cricket book that summer, concluded with a tribute to Compton:

To close the eyes is to see again that easy, happy figure at the wicket, pushing an unruly forelock out of the eye and then as it falls down again, playing off the wrong foot a stroke which passes deep-point like a bullet ... never again will the boyish delight in hitting a ball with a piece of wood flower directly into charm and gaiety and all the wealth of achievement.[16]

Later career

Against Bradman's Invincibles in 1948, Compton was England's standout performer in a losing cause. 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, Compton scored an unbeaten 145 in the first innings, when no other batsman made more than 37. He had scored only four runs when, while facing a bumper barrage from Ray Lindwall, he edged the ball onto his forehead. Compton was forced off the ground with a cut head, given two stitches, and ordered to rest despite wanting to return to the crease.[18] He eventually came back out when England was teetering at 119 for 5 and enabled the team 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.

Compton at the Ashes Test Series on 29 October 1954

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).[19]

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 because of 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 Marylebone Cricket Club (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.

Compton also jointly captained Middlesex between 1951 and 1952, with Bill Edrich. Also in 1952, Compton scored his 100th first-class century against Northampton while featuring for Middlesex at Lord's.[20] On the 1954–55 tour his departure was delayed for a remedial operation on his knee and he joined the team in Australia by aeroplane. 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.

In home test series against Pakistan he set the record for scoring the most runs in between lunch and tea in a Test match (173).[21]

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.

Football career

Denis Compton

Personal information
Playing position(s)	Winger
Number	11[22]
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

Compton also played football, beginning his career at non-league Nunhead during the 1933–34 season before joining Arsenal.[23] Whilst playing as a winger, he made his debut in 1936, taking up the number 11 jersey at the club. Arsenal won the league championship (old First Division) in 1937–38, but Denis Compton did not get a medal since he had made only 7 appearances that season.[1][24] Compton was eventually successful with Arsenal at Highbury, winning the League title in 1948 and the FA Cup in 1950. [25][22]

However, the latter part of his sporting career was dogged by knee trouble when his right knee was damaged in a collision with the goalkeeper of club Charlton Athletic.[25] He was thus limited to 60 official i.e. non-wartime appearances, scoring 16 goals altogether. He represented England in wartime games on twelve occasions, but never in a full official match.[10]

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. 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.' 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."[13]

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.[9][10]

Compton's death, on Saint 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.[16] 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 however that it was "a dull, practical structure which does little justice to their mercurial talents and indomitable spirits".[26]

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.

An example of this is illustrated upon page VIII of the Wisden Cricketers' Almanack edition of 1955. Denis Compton developed a close working relationship with Royds Advertising, and its chairman, who at that time was Nicholas Royds.[13]

Personal life

Denis and Leslie playing darts for a charity in 1947

Compton's elder brother Leslie also played cricket for Middlesex and football as a defender for Arsenal and England.[27]

Compton was married three times; his first wife was Doris Rich, a dancer, and they had a son, Brian.[28] With his second wife, Valerie Platt, Compton had two sons, Patrick and Richard, both of whom would go on to play cricket for Natal.[28] Compton married his third wife, Christine Franklin Tobias, in 1975, with whom he had two daughters, Charlotte and Victoria.[28] 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.[29]

Test centuries

The following table summarises the Test centuries scored by Denis Compton.[30]

• 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[31]
#	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

[30]

Honours

Arsenal[1]

• First Division: 1948
• FA Cup: 1950

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 Manuel "he was supposed to wake you" before Basil sarcastically asks Polly "well whose fault is it then you cloth eared bint? Denis Compton's?"[32]

Compton is referred to in the second episode of series 2 of Ever Decreasing Circles, "The Cricket Match", when Martin explains to his neighbour Paul that Compton never undermined his county captain George Mann, despite being the better player.

In Tim Rice's Oscar acceptance speech for the song "Can You Feel the Love Tonight", he thanked Denis Compton "a childhood hero of mine".[33]

In As Time Goes By, series 3 episode 3 "Living Together, But Where?". When Lionel is cleaning his flat, he wonders if should keep his copy of the book "End of an Innings", written by Denis Compton.

References

1. "Denis Compton". Arsenal F.C. Archived from the original on 5 March 2016.
2. "Player Profile: Denis Compton". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 6 December 2012.
3. List of batsmen who have scored 100 centuries in first-class cricket
4. Wadhwa, Arjun (18 July 2009). "Benaud, Gooch, Compton, Larwood and Woolley inducted into Cricket Hall of Fame". The Sport Campus. Archived from the original on 12 September 2012.
5. "Cricket at London Shenley Club". Shenley Cricket Centre.co.uk.
6. "A STAND TO NAME STANDS AFTER". Lords.org. 9 August 2012. Archived from the original on 26 August 2013.
7. Croudy, Brian; Bartlett, Kit (1998). D.C.S. Compton. Famous Cricketers. Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians. ISBN 0 947774 95 5. Retrieved 28 December 2014.
8. Berry, Scyld (23 April 1997). "Obituary: Denis Compton". The Independent.
9. "Denis Compton". Spartacus Educational.com.
10. Heald, Tim (4 May 2015). Denis Compton: The Authorized Biography. Dean Street Press.
11. "Youngest Players on debut for England in Test matches". Cricket Archive. Retrieved 16 September 2016.
12. de Lacy, H.A., "Compton's Modest Story of his Rise to Fame", The Sporting Globe, (Saturday, 15 October 1949), pp.4, 5.
13. "Denis Compton 'The Brylcreem boy' hits his peak". The Sunday Herald. Scotland. 22 October 2007.
14. Easterbrook, Basil (1997). "Compton's record season". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 10 March 2013.
15. "Denis Compton's feat in 1947". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 15 September 2016.
16. Keating, Frank (1998). "Denis Compton – talisman of hope, 1998... Delightful man". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 10 March 2013.
17. "Middlesex v Kent at Lord's, 13–15 August 1947". Retrieved 10 March 2013.
18. Lynch, Steven (2 September 2013). "Bruised but not shaken". ESPNcricinfo.
19. Compton's 300 remembered. Content-usa.cricinfo.com (3 December 1998). Retrieved 24 August 2015.
20. "Denis Compton Does It (1952)". British Pathe – via YouTube.
21. "Hundred runs or more between lunch and tea". ESPNcricinfo.
22. "Denis Compton pulls on Arsenal number 11 shirt". Getty Images.com.
23. "Off-side – a cricketing XI that made strides in football". International Cricket Council. Retrieved 21 June 2018.
24. "1937–38 competition statistics". 11v11.com. Retrieved 28 November 2013.
25. Dawson, Matt (5 March 2015). "Two one-club brothers: Arsenal's Leslie and Denis Compton". Vavel.com.
26. Bateman, Colin (1993). If The Cap Fits. Tony Williams Publications. pp. 58–59. ISBN 1-869833-21-X.
27. "Leslie Compton". Arsenal F.C. Archived from the original on 19 October 2016.
28. "Obituary: Denis Compton". The Daily Telegraph. 24 April 1997.
29. "Nick Compton". ESPNcricinfo.
30. "Denis Compton's Test Centuries". Howstat.com.
31. Statsguru: Denis Compton, ESPNcricinfo, 16 March 2010.
32. Holm, Lars Holger (February 2004). Fawlty Towers: A Worshippers Companion. Leo Publishing.
33. Lynch, Steven (9 January 2012). "Compton confounds Hollywood". ESPNcricinfo.

External links

• Denis Compton at ESPNcricinfo
• Hall of Fame Profile at ICC Website
• Profile at Arsenal.com

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