Famous Cricketers No 85 - Derek Underwood

Foreword By Alan Dixon (Kent 1950-1970) I am delighted to be asked to contribute this foreword to this comprehensive record of Derek Underwood’s career. People will argue endlessly about who was the greatest bowler; I have no doubt that I was privileged to share the last few years of my cricketing career with someone who was certainly one of the greatest bowlers of all time. Many cricketers have to work very hard indeed on their technique to attain the heights of achievement. I don’t believe that Derek had to try very hard to achieve what he did - his bowling talent seemed to be a God-given thing. His ability to replicate ball after ball, over after over, hour after hour and, if need be, day in day out the same nagging accuracy was a source of amazement to his colleagues and of demoralisation to his opponents. If the pitch was helpful to him he was undoubtedly the most feared bowler of his generation, his action and pace enabling him to obtain not just dangerous turn, but also venomous lift, off the pitch, a combination that produced many spectacular analyses for him. On flat pitches he could be relied on to keep one end shut down for hours on end. He appeared as if from nowhere in the Kent XI in 1963, started taking wickets from the word go, and stayed for the next 25 years and I cannot recall him missing any games through injury or illness throughout his career. If he wasn’t playing for Kent he was playing for England. His trademarks were his splay-footed approach followed by the same smooth delivery stride with a characteristic cocking of the wrist, almost as though he were going to bowl a leg-break, followed very often by his monosyllabic appeal which was more a “Dat?” than the more familiar “How was that?” about which he was ribbed unmercifully by his colleagues. Derek was a true professional, always modest but without a trace of subservience, and I never encountered a bowler who so resented conceding runs or displayed such elation in claiming another victim but always without undue celebration. He earned a place as an offical nightwatchman and I cannot recall an occasion when he failed to keep his end up until the close of play. It gave his many friends, as it must Derek himself, great pleasure when, towards the end of his career, he scored his maiden, and only, century, against Sussex at Hastings - more normally a happy hunting ground for wickets; it was at Hastings that he achieved many of his more startling bowling analyses. Never a natural athlete Derek nevertheless became a very reliable fielder as his tally of 107 caught and bowled victims will testify. Only Alan Knott caught more batsmen off Derek’s bowling than he did himself. On a personal note, for almost 20 years I held the record for the best bowling analysis in a Gillette Cup/NatWest Trophy match with 7 for 15, against Surrey at The Oval in 1967. In his final season Derek took 8 for 31 against Scotland in Edinburgh to surpass my record. It couldn’t have happened to a nicer man and I rejoiced that it was his achievement. 3