Harsh Thakor
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This year on May 23rd we celebrated the birth centenary of the legendary Denis Compton.Sadly we virtually forgot him on pakpassion this year.Without doubt he was one of the greatest batsmen or cricketers to set foot on the cricket field amongst the most charismatic and one of the most stylish or creative batsmen ever.A total contrast to Len Hutton being unorthodox but took batting art to regions unexplored,literally to another dimension.Compton was like a magician and artist moulded into one.His strokes were simply poetry in motion with the flourish of a painter's brush.
Quoting Stuart Wark in cricinfo:Trevor Bailey described him as "the most brilliant and most unorthodox" batsman that he had played with or against, while Bradman noted as early as 1950 that Denis "does things that are unexpected and which no one else can copy… you notice that he is so different and superior, perhaps, to his contemporaries". Jim Laker recounted a story in which the English team were discussing the seven wonders of the world, but they couldn't recall the final one. It was agreed, following an initial suggestion from Colin Cowdrey, that Denis Compton's sweep shot was the forgotten wonder.
Held the record for the most centuries and run sin an English first class season.Compton was the equivalent of a magician to batting.Cristopher Martin Jenkins and John Woodcock rank Compton amongst the 20 best cricketers of all.Sad that we forgot to bow down to this immortal legend.Compton scored the fastest first class triple hundred ever.Scored 100 centuries in 452 innings only 2nd to Bradman and quickest than Walter Hammond,Len Hutton or Viv Richards.
Both John Woodcock and Cristopher Martin Jenkins rank Compton ahead of even Gavaskar,Barry Richards ,Everton Wekes,Graeme Pollock and Brian Lara .He finished Test cricket having played 78 matches, scoring 5807 runs at an average of 50.06 with 17 centuries. His allrounder status is often overlooked, as he also took 622 first-class wickets at an average of around 30 with his left-arm leggies. Dennis averaged over 60 at home but around 38 away which may go against him being rated ahead of some greats.Had a phenomenal average in England considering the condition s prevailing.
Very prolfic against West Indies at Lords in 1939 scoring 189 and 63 at Lords.On the 1946-47 tour of Australia he performed in mercurial style averaging 51 with 459 runs and 2 centuries.His highest score was 278 against Pakistan against whmo he averaged above 90.
Quoting Stuart Wark in cricinfo "Perhaps two of his finest innings were against Australia in 1948. England were again comprehensively outplayed by the tourists, but Denis showed amazing skill in scoring a quite brilliant 184 at Trent Bridge and then amazing courage in his unbeaten 145 at Old Trafford, where he had been forced to retire hurt following a nasty blow to the head from a bouncer from Ray Lindwall. He came back after being stitched up, and with England in significant problems, Denis proceeded to take the attack back to the opposition fast bowlers, including his old friend Miller."
In my book considering he was not as prolific overseas than at home I rank him below the likes of Hutton and Hammond ,amongst Englishman.However he did play some great innings on bad wickets and against great bowling attacks.Compton also had to tackle much more testing wickets than batsmen of later eras.
Both John Woodcock and Cristopher Martin Jenkins rank Compton ahead of even Gavaskar,Barry Richards ,Everton Wekes,Graeme Pollock and Brian Lara .He finished Test cricket having played 78 matches, scoring 5807 runs at an average of 50.06 with 17 centuries. His allrounder status is often overlooked, as he also took 622 first-class wickets at an average of around 30 with his left-arm leggies. Dennis averaged over 60 at home but around 38 away which may go against him being rated ahead of some greats.Had a phenomenal average in England considering the condition s prevailing.
For pure elegance or style I would place Compton on par with David Gower and Zaheer Abbas and for pure cricketing genius on par with the likes of Brian Lara and Rohan Kanhai.Compton played some of the finest innings with his team in dark waters and entertained fans more than any cricketer of his day.He would have feasted on the flat wickets of the modern age and averaged above 55.In the other versions of his game his improvisation would have placed him at the very top.
Amongst 2 down batsmen he would give Lara and Tendulkar a strong run for their money and arguably overshadow even Everton Weekes or Greg Chappell.Dennis averaged over 60 at home but around 38 away which may go against him being rated ahead of some greats.Had a phenomenal average in England considering the condition s prevailing.
Respecting statistics I feel Compton would rank around 40th place amongst cricketers of all time and a shade below George Headley and Everton Weekes.I would rank Compton a shade ahead of Alan Border,Javed Miandad,Rahul Dravid and Graham Gooch but a shade below Sunil Gavaskar,Len Hutton,Greg Chappell or Graeme Pollock.Maybe Compton was on par with George Headley.Thus to me amongst the 25 best batsmen of all.Arguably close to the best ever of unorthodox batsmen and the best of the stylists.
Quoting Stuart Wark in cricinfo:Trevor Bailey described him as "the most brilliant and most unorthodox" batsman that he had played with or against, while Bradman noted as early as 1950 that Denis "does things that are unexpected and which no one else can copy… you notice that he is so different and superior, perhaps, to his contemporaries". Jim Laker recounted a story in which the English team were discussing the seven wonders of the world, but they couldn't recall the final one. It was agreed, following an initial suggestion from Colin Cowdrey, that Denis Compton's sweep shot was the forgotten wonder.
Held the record for the most centuries and run sin an English first class season.Compton was the equivalent of a magician to batting.Cristopher Martin Jenkins and John Woodcock rank Compton amongst the 20 best cricketers of all.Sad that we forgot to bow down to this immortal legend.Compton scored the fastest first class triple hundred ever.Scored 100 centuries in 452 innings only 2nd to Bradman and quickest than Walter Hammond,Len Hutton or Viv Richards.
Both John Woodcock and Cristopher Martin Jenkins rank Compton ahead of even Gavaskar,Barry Richards ,Everton Wekes,Graeme Pollock and Brian Lara .He finished Test cricket having played 78 matches, scoring 5807 runs at an average of 50.06 with 17 centuries. His allrounder status is often overlooked, as he also took 622 first-class wickets at an average of around 30 with his left-arm leggies. Dennis averaged over 60 at home but around 38 away which may go against him being rated ahead of some greats.Had a phenomenal average in England considering the condition s prevailing.
Very prolfic against West Indies at Lords in 1939 scoring 189 and 63 at Lords.On the 1946-47 tour of Australia he performed in mercurial style averaging 51 with 459 runs and 2 centuries.His highest score was 278 against Pakistan against whmo he averaged above 90.
Quoting Stuart Wark in cricinfo "Perhaps two of his finest innings were against Australia in 1948. England were again comprehensively outplayed by the tourists, but Denis showed amazing skill in scoring a quite brilliant 184 at Trent Bridge and then amazing courage in his unbeaten 145 at Old Trafford, where he had been forced to retire hurt following a nasty blow to the head from a bouncer from Ray Lindwall. He came back after being stitched up, and with England in significant problems, Denis proceeded to take the attack back to the opposition fast bowlers, including his old friend Miller."
In my book considering he was not as prolific overseas than at home I rank him below the likes of Hutton and Hammond ,amongst Englishman.However he did play some great innings on bad wickets and against great bowling attacks.Compton also had to tackle much more testing wickets than batsmen of later eras.
Both John Woodcock and Cristopher Martin Jenkins rank Compton ahead of even Gavaskar,Barry Richards ,Everton Wekes,Graeme Pollock and Brian Lara .He finished Test cricket having played 78 matches, scoring 5807 runs at an average of 50.06 with 17 centuries. His allrounder status is often overlooked, as he also took 622 first-class wickets at an average of around 30 with his left-arm leggies. Dennis averaged over 60 at home but around 38 away which may go against him being rated ahead of some greats.Had a phenomenal average in England considering the condition s prevailing.
For pure elegance or style I would place Compton on par with David Gower and Zaheer Abbas and for pure cricketing genius on par with the likes of Brian Lara and Rohan Kanhai.Compton played some of the finest innings with his team in dark waters and entertained fans more than any cricketer of his day.He would have feasted on the flat wickets of the modern age and averaged above 55.In the other versions of his game his improvisation would have placed him at the very top.
Amongst 2 down batsmen he would give Lara and Tendulkar a strong run for their money and arguably overshadow even Everton Weekes or Greg Chappell.Dennis averaged over 60 at home but around 38 away which may go against him being rated ahead of some greats.Had a phenomenal average in England considering the condition s prevailing.
Respecting statistics I feel Compton would rank around 40th place amongst cricketers of all time and a shade below George Headley and Everton Weekes.I would rank Compton a shade ahead of Alan Border,Javed Miandad,Rahul Dravid and Graham Gooch but a shade below Sunil Gavaskar,Len Hutton,Greg Chappell or Graeme Pollock.Maybe Compton was on par with George Headley.Thus to me amongst the 25 best batsmen of all.Arguably close to the best ever of unorthodox batsmen and the best of the stylists.
