May 23, 1918
Cricketer or Footballer? The answer is: Both! Though he is better known as a cricketer, he was not any less as a footballer. He played for English club Arsenal.
We know the specialty of a batsman, bowler or all-rounder. But Denis Compton was totally different. He was a right-handed batsman who used to bowl Left-arm Chinaman. He played both cricket and football. He was also very popular among the women fans for her handsome appearance. The term of a true all-rounder probably fits next to his name.
International Cricket:
Denis Compton made his first-class debut for Middlesex in 1936 at the age of just 18. The following year he got a chance to play a Test for England. At that time he was playing first division tournament for Arsenal. He left the tournament midway. His team Arsenal became champion in that event. He was called up to the England national team at the age of just 19. He smashed a half-century (65) against New Zealand in his debut match. Compton could have made his debut innings bigger if he hadn't been run out!
Though he was deprived of a century after being run out in his debut innings, Denis Compton scored a century in the first innings of his second Test. He played an innings of 102 off 173 against Bradman's Australia. Compton caught more attention in the second match of the series than he did by scoring a century. Don Bradman was also impressed by his match-saving knock of 76 not out in a rain-affected match at Lord's.
Denis Compton scored 2,468 runs in first-class cricket in 1939. That included a 120-run innings against the West Indies at Lord's Cricket Ground. He played his first international match against West Indies in 1939. He scored 120 runs at Lord's that day and got his name on the honors board. Like other cricketers of his time, his career was also overshadowed by World War II. Due to which he had to stay out of international cricket for almost half a century.
After World War II, Compton returned with a more terrifying form. Many talented cricketers lost a large part of their careers due to World War II. Denis Compton is one of them. International cricket returned in 1946. Denis Compton resumed his career with a match against India at Lord's. The memory of the first match was not a pleasant one. After getting out of the first ball in the first innings and returning to the dressing room, England won before he came to bat in the second innings.
Compton didn't take long time to make a comeback. He scored a pair of half-centuries (51 and 71 not out) against India in the next Test. From then on, the golden age of his career began. In early 1947, England toured Australia to play the Ashes. Denis Compton scored a pair of centuries (147 and 103 not out) in the fourth Test of the series in Adelaide. After the Ashes, South Africa toured England in the middle of the year. The South African bowlers were looking helpless in front of Denis Compton. After scoring 65 and 163 in the first Test, he smashed maiden double century (208) of his career in the next Test at Lord's.
The carnage did not stop here. He slammed 115 runs at Manchester to register a hundred in three consecutive test innings. He ended the series with an innings of 53 and 113 at The Oval in the last Test of the series. Throughout the season, he ruled the bowlers with the bat. In 1947, he scored 3,816 runs at an average of 90.85 per innings that summer, which is by far the most runs in a calendar year in first-class cricket and his 18 centuries surpassed the 16 made by Sir Jack Hobbs in 1925.
After rewriting the record book in the previous season, he continued in the same vein in the next season. Compton fought alone against Don Bradman's inevitable Australia in the 1948 Nottingham Test and smashed 184 runs before getting dismissed for a hit-wicket. England were able to avoid an innings defeat thanks to his impeccable innings. But England lost by 8 wickets to Australia.
After scoring a half-century (53) in the next Test at Lord's, he played an excellent innings of 145 not out in the first innings of the Manchester Test. England's second highest run was 37 in that innings! He fought alone for England in front of Miller, Johnston and Lindwall. Denis Compton registered 300 out of 399 in just 181 minutes for MCC against North Eastern Transvaal Club of South Africa in the 1948-49 season, fastest triple century in first-class cricket (in minutes). He took 66 minutes to score the first hundred and he started his innings again the next day and took 78 minutes to complete the next 100 runs and only 37 minutes to complete the last 100 runs!
Denis Compton played the best innings of his career on July 1, 1954. Against Pakistan in Nottingham, he scored 278 runs in just 287 minutes with 34 fours and 1 six. He added 173 runs in the second session of the second day, which is the most runs scored by a player in the second session of a Test match so far. Denis Compton ended his illustrious career in international cricket in 1957. He said goodbye to international cricket with a match against South Africa in Port Elizabeth on March 1. Compton ended with 5,807 runs in 78 Tests at an average of 50.06 with 17 centuries and 28 half-centuries. Although he has not bowled regularly in international cricket, he has taken 25 wickets in 66 innings.
First-class Cricket:
Denis Compton made his debut in first-class cricket in 1936. Until 1964, he played first-class cricket. He has scored 123 centuries in his 26-year first-class career. So far, 25 cricketers have scored hundred 100s in first-class cricket and he is one of them.
Denis Compton, who played county cricket for Middlesex, has played 515 first-class matches in his career, scoring 38,942 runs at an average of 51.85 with 123 centuries and 183 half-centuries. He was very effective with the ball in first-class cricket . He bagged 622 first-class wickets with 3 ten-wicket and 19 five-wicket hauls.
In 1944 he was posted to India as a sergeant-major. While there, he played 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 extraordinary Ranji Trophy final of 1944-45, then the highest-scoring match ever, between Holkar and Bombay. With 867 to win, and tempted by the promise of a reward of Rs 100 for every run after his century, Compton batted on and on and on. When the last wicket fell at 492, Compton was still there on 249 not out. By then, the local businessman who had promised the reward had vanished, leaving a note that he had been called to Calcutta on urgent business.
Football career:
Everyone knows him as a cricketer for his colorful cricket career. But he was not any less in football. He joined Arsenal's junior club in 1932 at the age of 14 and played for them at club level in 1936. He played football as a left winger.
Just like in cricket, one can continue playing even after the age of 30, but not in football. Football is all about running fast, which decreases with age. And the prime time of his football career was lost with World War II. During that time, he played 120 club level matches and scored 74 goals. He played 12 matches for England. But none of this was officially recognised. He won the league title for Arsenal in 1948 and the FA Cup in 1950. He scored 16 goals in 60 appearances for Arsenal at club level.
At one time he wanted to play for the traditional Mohun Bagan Club of Kolkata. After watching the Mohun Bagan vs East Bengal match at the IFA Shield in 1946, he laughed and said, 'Why are the boys running like red ants near the forward line! Ask them to take a shot in the goal. I played first-class and international football for six years. I didn't have to go into the penalty box to get a shot on goal.'
Denis Compton must have some connection with the number '23'. He was born May 23, 1918 and died on April 23, 1997, exactly one month before his 79th birthday.
In 1993, he inaugurated the main cricket ground at Shenley Cricket Center in Hertfordshire. The field was then renamed after him — 'Denis Compton' Oval in his honor. There is also a stand named after him at Lord's Cricket Ground. The 'Man of the Series' of the Ashes has been awarded the 'Compton-Miller' Medal since 2005. The medal is named in honor of the friendship between the two great cricketers. Denis Compton was inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame in 2009.
There was reign of amateurs in cricket when Denis Compton played. They entered the England team from Eton college and Harrow Public School via Oxford-Cambridge. They used to play cricket as a hobby. There was no thought of money. Most of their ancestors were lords, or had big business. Lord Hawke, CB Fry, Stanley Jackson, Douglas Jardine, Percy Fender, Lord Tennyson, Colin Cowdrey are in this class. 'Mr.' was written next to their name on the score card. They used to sit in a separate dressing room. For those who played cricket to earn their livelihood like Jack Hobbs, Compton or Harold Larwood, there was a separate dressing room. At that time It was not easy to earn money and respect just by playing cricket. But Compton did that difficult job. He also became an 'icon' of England cricket in that amateur era.
Denis Compton had the rare ability to score long-range shots from outside the penalty box like Messi-Ronaldo of this era. He could have been a great footballer if he wanted to. He looked handsome, played both cricket and football and was the poster boy for the famous ‘Brylcreem’ product. What would you say? The Real All-rounder? Yes, Cricket was hugely fortunate that such a gifted sportsman graced the game with his presence.
✍️ Subham Dey
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