Famous Cricketers No 39 - D.C.S.Compton

The following winter Compton was a member of the successful M.C.C. team that toured South Africa. The undoubted highlight of the tour for him was his 300 runs in 181 minutes against the admittedly weak bowling attack of N.E. Transvaal. This innings still remains the fastest triple century scored in first-class cricket. In the Test series Compton made 406 runs from nine innings with one century, in the Second Test at Johannesburg. His seasonal aggregate of 1781 runs was a new South African record at that time, since exceeded by John Reid, and his total of eight first-class centuries a new record, since equalled. In the 1949 season Compton continued his good form and played in the four Tests against New Zealand all consisting of only three days’ play and not surprisingly finishing in draws. Middlesex had another satisfactory record this summer. Despite supplying five players to the England team at Lord’s they shared the County Championship with Yorkshire, the first time this had been done since 1889. Compton was awarded a benefit for the Sussex match at Lord’s at Whitsuntide and celebrated the occasion by making a splendid 182. A total of 55,000 spectators watched this game and Denis’s total benefit was £12,200, a figure approaching £200,000 in 1998 currency. With no winter tour scheduled for the 1949/50 season Denis returned to his other love, soccer, and although troubled by his cartilege played eleven League matches for Arsenal in what proved to be his last football season. The highlight of his season was his appearance in the F.A. Cup Final at Wembley where Arsenal beat Liverpool by two goals to nil. He and his brother, Leslie, gained the rare distinction of being members of Championship winning teams (Middlesex 1947 and 1949 joint), and Arsenal League Champions 1947/48 and F.A. Cup Winners 1949/50. In 1950 Denis Compton’s knee obtained as many headlines as its owner. After playing in five early matches in May he underwent an operation to remove his cartilege and did not appear again in a first-class match until late July when he played in Laurie Fishlock’s benefit match against Surrey at Kennington Oval and scored a splendid century. His second tour of Australia and New Zealand proved to be one of the major disappointments in his career. Although he made three hundreds in the early part of the tour he was a complete failure in the four Tests in which he played. Scores of 3,0,0,23,5,0,11 & 11 not out gave him the paltry average of 7.57. He finished the tour with a spirited 79 in the first New Zealand Test. Events off the field at this time were sad as his first marriage ended in divorce, custody of their son being granted to his ex-wife. The 1951 season saw the return of the South Africans and although it was not to be expected that Compton would repeat his great deeds of four years earlier, he did score a century at Trent Bridge in the First Test. He reached two thousand runs by the end of the season and altogether scored eight centuries. Compton did not travel to India with the M.C.C. for the winter tour. On 12th October 1951 he married Miss Valerie Platt, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Cecil Platt of South Africa, at The Old Fort Chapel, Durban. They returned to England to live in January 1952. There were two sons of the marriage, Patrick, born in November 1952, and Richard, born in 1956. After poor scores in the first two Tests against the visiting Indians Denis Compton asked not to be considered for the remaining two games, an unusual step for a cricketer to take. This enabled him to keep the record of never having been officially dropped for a Test match by England. His overall record this summer was less impressive and although his aggregate increased slightly he appeared to have lost a little of his sparkle. A feature of his season was the scoring of his one hundredth first-class century, in the game at Northampton against Northamptonshire. Compton played in all five Tests against A.L.Hassett’s Australians although his record was somewhat disappointing for a batsman of his stature. He was however at the wicket to hit the winning 6