The man in the eye of the storm

Michael Henry Denness was appointed ICC match referee in 1995-96 and, since then, has officiated in 11 Tests and 32 one-day internationals. Earlier this year, Denness made news by reprimanding Herschelle Gibbs and warning him about his conduct on the South African tour of the West Indies. This followed Gibbs' dissenting reaction to his dismissal in the second innings of the fourth Test at Antigua. Such firm decisions are in order, but not needlessly harsh and questionable rulings like Monday's judgements.

Denness completes 61 on December 1. Perhaps on his birthday, if not earlier, he will ponder over the judgment by which he pulled up six Indian players and slapped various sentences on them. The question that many would like to ask him is: why did he not pass similar rulings on the misdemeanours of some of the South African players, who were also guilty of excessive appealing and mouthing obscenities at the Indian batsmen? This too has been going on since the first Test. One assumes that, as match referee, Denness has been witness to these seamy happenings as well.

As a middle-order batsman, representing England in 28 Tests and captaining the country for a generally undistinguished 18-month period from 1974 to 1975, Denness enjoyed only moderate success. As a batsman, he had technical limitations; as a captain, he had tactical limitations. He is, thus, not readily remembered for anything outstanding during his playing career. His chief claim to some fame is that he came from the untraditional cricket nursery of northeast Scotland to captain Kent and England. But if Monday's ruling is any indication, he will certainly be remembered, albeit not very fondly, by Indian cricket fans.

Denness is no stranger to Indian cricket fans. He came here as vice-captain to Tony Lewis on the 1972-73 tour. Playing in all five Tests, he scored 257 runs at an average of 32.12. He generally struggled against Bishan Singh Bedi, Erapalli Prasanna and BS Chandrasekhar, but his determination saw him get a top score of 76 in the third Test at Madras. In the 1974 series in England, he was a transformed batsman. He stroked his way to successive centuries in the second and third Tests, besides leading the team to victory by crushing margins in all three games. He also captained England in the 1975 World Cup and, in the first match against India, his team ran up a total of 334 for four in 60 overs, winning the match by 202 runs. In all, Denness captained England in 19 Test matches, winning six and losing five.

An elegant and orthodox right-hand batsman, Denness represented England from 1969 to 1975, scoring 1667 runs at an average of 39.69, with four hundreds. In the county championship, he played for Kent and Essex. In a first-class career that lasted from 1959 to 1980, Denness scored 25,886 runs at an average of 33.48 with 33 hundreds. Under his captaincy, Kent won the John Player League three times, the Benson & Hedges Cup twice, and the Gillette Cup once. Moving to Essex in 1977, he played a significant role in the county's victory in two competitions in 1979.

In retirement, Denness has had a varied career, working in insurance, finance, public relations, as well as manager for World Series Cricket teams. From 1981 to 1984, he was coach of the Essex second eleven.