Derek Underwood obituary: One of the most feared bowlers in the world

UNDERWOOD, DEREK LESLIE, MBE, who died on April 15, aged 78, looked like the last person who should be nicknamed “Deadly”. With his fair hair, mild manners and boyish looks, he might have been mistaken for a market-town solicitor. But when he was sending down his brisk left-arm spin for Kent or England, particularly if the pitch were damp, he was one of the most feared bowlers in the world, capable of taking out opponents with the efficiency of a hired assassin. He possessed, said Geoffrey Boycott, “the ruthlessness of a rat-catcher”.

Sleeves rolled up, frowning with concentration, he would pad in off a gently curving ten-pace approach. He had a fast arm and, after releasing the ball, his upper body thrust forward in the follow-through. Underwood suffocated batters with accuracy, change of pace or length, and a lethal, inswinging arm-ball. He was never predictable. “Deadly likes to bowl every ball differently,” said Mike Denness, one of his captains. On a drying surface, he could be unplayable, making the ball lift spitefully: catches often flew off the bat handle. For county and country he formed a formidable alliance with wicketkeeper Alan Knott, two all-time greats operating in perfect sync. “Derek was extremely competitive, possessed great stamina, strength and a great will to win,” said Knott. “He could bowl all day if required.”

Read: Derek Underwood – Wisden Cricketer of the Year, 1969

Underwood’s pace – in 1969, Wisden called him “left-arm slow-medium” – makes him difficult to place in historical context. He was not a classical slow left-armer, like Wilfred Rhodes or Bishan Bedi, nor a medium-pacer, but belonged in a category of his own. “He was different to play from any other spinner I faced,” said the Australian captain Ian Chappell. “Deadly was too quick to attack by using your feet, so I played him as a medium-pacer.” Underwood admitted: “I have tried bowling slower. Tried tossing the ball up in the air more. Switched from bowling round the wicket to over, and back again. Many people, even England selectors, feel I should change. But none of these has been me.”

Read: A master of his art: Mike Brearley on Derek Underwood – Almanack

In Tests, he took 297 wickets at 25.83, sixth on England’s all-time list, and the most successful slow bowler. Underwood would have collected more but for a two-year interlude with World Series Cricket. He also joined the rebel tour of South Africa led by Graham Gooch in 1981/82, ending his international career at 36. For most of the early 1970s, he was the world’s No.1 bowler, according to the ICC’s retrospective rankings. In May 1963, a month away from his 18th birthday, Underwood made his debut against Yorkshire at Hull’s Circle ground. On a pitch still damp from first-day rain, he took 4-40; Ray Illingworth, caught at cover, was a notable first victim. Already, his style was proving hard to pin down – The Daily Telegraph called him “left-arm medium-pace”. Whatever he was bowling, it proved effective: he became the youngest bowler to take 100 wickets in a first-class summer.

Read: Derek Underwood, master craftsman – Almanack

He was born in Bromley, one of two sons of a cricket-mad father, who set up a net in the back garden. With his brother, Keith, usually monopolising the bat, Underwood developed his accuracy (he had no idea why he emerged as a right-handed batsman). He attended Dulwich College prep school, where a teacher took him to see the great Surrey side at The Oval. Aged eight, he was also there on the day England regained the Ashes in 1953. At 13, he went to Beckenham & Penge Grammar, where he underlined his promise with a ten-for against a neighbouring school, and 96 against the staff. In Croydon, he was coached by the Surrey left-arm spinner Tony Lock, and by Ken Barrington, who recommended him to Kent. He was initially seen as a batsman who bowled useful seam, but his potential as a slow bowler was recognised at Canterbury.

It was during games for Kent Schools and Southern Schools that Knott became a teammate, though they had first met at indoor nets at Eltham at the age of 12. After a disappointing set of exam results – he had been missing school to play cricket – Underwood decided to forget further education, and accept Kent’s offer of a contract in 1962. He quickly made an impression, taking five for 45 on his Second XI debut against Hampshire at the London Transport ground in Beckenham. After a successful summer, he was fast-tracked into Kent’s Championship side. “This 18-year-old medium-pace bowler was considered one of the discoveries of the year,” said Wisden. He got a £50 bonus, but had to wait for his county cap. Underwood proved remarkably consistent for the rest of the decade, missing out on 100 wickets only in 1965, when he took 89. The following summer, his 157 at 13 made him the first Kent bowler to lead the national averages since Colin
Blythe in 1914. John Shepherd, who made his county debut in 1966, recalled: “If he bowled a bad ball, you almost wanted to make a note of the date and time so you could remind him later.” Underwood’s success led to a Test call-up against West Indies at Trent Bridge in 1966, but two matches and 69 overs yielded a solitary wicket – Rohan Kanhai, caught by Tom Graveney. It did not deter the selectors. Further opportunities came in 1967, when he was again top of the national averages, and he took the first of 17 Test five-fors in his third match, against Pakistan in Nottingham.

But he came of age as a Test player in the 1968 Ashes, climaxing at The Oval with the performance that defined him. England began the final day needing eight wickets to square the series, and Underwood took two of the three to fall in the morning, as Australia went in to lunch at 86 for five. During the interval, a downpour left parts of the outfield under water: the preservation of Australia’s 1–0 lead appeared inevitable. When the sun broke through at 2.15, groundsman Ted Warn and a small army of spectators, urged on by England captain Colin Cowdrey, employed brooms and blankets so effectively that play resumed at 4.45, giving England an hour and a quarter to take five wickets. Forty of those minutes ticked away, with Australia resolute and the pitch too wet to offer the bowlers assistance. When Basil D’Oliveira made the breakthrough by bowling Barry Jarman, Cowdrey instantly brought Underwood back on at the Pavilion End. “Underwood was given just that little degree of help by the drying pitch that all the best bowlers need to accomplish their purposes,” wrote EW Swanton in The Daily Telegraph. He was now “well nigh unplayable”, said Wisden. He had Ashley Mallett and Graham McKenzie caught by David Brown, one of a cluster of short legs, in the first over of the spell, then bowled John Gleeson. With six minutes remaining, he persuaded the obdurate opener John Inverarity to offer no stroke to an arm-ball. Underwood had taken 4-6 in 27 balls, to finish with 31.3-19-50-7. He wanted the ball as a souvenir, but it was swallowed up in the onrushing crowd. The ten men around the bat, standing in islands of sawdust and appealing in unison after Inverarity padded up, produced a famous photograph. “One of the most exciting victories in the history of Test cricket,” said Swanton. Underwood’s series figures were 20 wickets at 15. In the Daily Express, Keith Miller saluted his “amazing accuracy”, and added: “He can bowl on any pitch.”

Underwood was too exhausted to savour the moment. “I felt no particular joy or elation,” he said. “The occasion was almost too much for me.” His family were desperate to rush home for the TV highlights, but he preferred a quiet meal at a steakhouse in Bromley. Years later, he had still not seen the footage. At 23, he was established as an international cricketer, and was one of Wisden’s Five in 1969.

His value was underlined the following summer, when five Tests against West Indies and New Zealand brought him 30 wickets at 10, including 12-101 from 64.3 overs against the New Zealanders at The Oval. He was key to Illingworth’s strategy for regaining the Ashes in 1970/71, when he bowled nearly 200 eight-ball overs and took 16 wickets at 32. “Underwood bowled splendidly, especially when we were trying to keep things tight,” Illingworth wrote. When Australia visited in 1972, Underwood was responsible for the three-day victory in the Fourth Test at Headingley that ensured England retained the Ashes. On a pitch infected by fusarium disease, he had match figures of 10-82. In his first appearance in the series – he had surprisingly lost his place to Norman Gifford – he remembered the pitch as “damp, entirely grassless and mottled”, and took 5-18 in 13 overs as Australia folded either side of lunch on the third day. He later wrote: “While it was not a good Test wicket by any means, there was no skulduggery.”

The Australians departed muttering conspiracy theories, and there were more grumbles two years later when Pakistan were trapped on a Lord’s pitch inadequately covered during heavy rain. In their second innings, Underwood took a Test-best 8-51, and 13-71 in the match. “As he does in these conditions, Underwood bowled cruelly well,” said John Woodcock in The Times. Justice was served when last-day rain prevented a result. “When Underwood gets these figures at Adelaide, I shall buy you a glass of champagne,” said one of Woodcock’s press-box colleagues. That winter, in January 1975, he had to cough up: cashing in on an Adelaide pitch soaked by rain when the covers blew away overnight, Underwood took 7-113 in the first innings of the fifth Test. “Deadly was tough to play on any pitch, but nigh on impossible for a right-hand batsman on a moist surface,” said Ian Chappell. Though they lost, it was a rare moment of relief for England in a humbling series. Another notable overseas performance came in 1976/77, when Underwood took 29 wickets at 17 in England’s 3-1 win in India, having been identified as the team’s match-winner by captain Tony Greig. He was given the option of missing all the tour matches in order to be at concert pitch for the Tests. Underwood called it “the greatest compliment of my career”.

As one of the world’s leading players, he was a natural target for Kerry Packer’s World Series Cricket recruitment drive, and had no qualms about signing. Underwood’s biographer Mark Peel estimated he earned £7,600 in the 1976-77 tax year; in his early thirties, he was about to become a father for the second time. “I am assured of being paid substantial sums to take part in world-class cricket during the three coming seasons, and it is a great improvement to have one’s future employment ensured in that way,” he said. “Hitherto, I have never been asked whether or not I was available to play for a touring team, it being general practice that I should be kept waiting until the very last minute before a place in the team was offered to me. This insecurity about one’s future is always at the back of a player’s mind.” Even so, he played a full part in helping England regain the Ashes in 1977 before heading to Australia – and into Test exile.

At Kent, Underwood was central to a golden era. The club won the Championship in 1970, 1977 (sharing it with Middlesex) and 1978, as well as eight one-day trophies in 12 years. “We were like a family,” said Shepherd. “Colin Cowdrey had done a lot to introduce that spirit. He was an absolute genius, but there was not a trace of arrogance.”

But, after signing for Packer, Underwood was told that his contract – along with those of Knott, Bob Woolmer and Pakistan all-rounder Asif Iqbal – would not be renewed. Les Ames, the former Kent wicketkeeper who had been team manager, called the decision “repugnant and distasteful“. Underwood was furious. “I reckoned, without being conceited, I had contributed to Kent’s post-war success as much as any other bowler, and yet here I was being fired from the club I had served in what I thought was a dedicated way for 16 seasons,” he wrote. Underwood continued to play under threat of dismissal in 1978, and a peace deal was brokered just before the Benson and Hedges final, when Kent won the first of two trophies that year. Unhindered by Test calls, he took 100 wickets in the Championship (which they also won) for the first time since 1967.

After serving his international ban, he returned to Tests for the post-Packer tour of Australia in 1979/80. But there were no longer uncovered pitches to exploit, and he thought batters were more willing to attack spin when given a break from relentless pace. His Test career ended in Colombo, in Sri Lanka’s inaugural Test in February 1982, when he took 5-28 in the first innings. His decision to accept an offer to tour South Africa a few weeks later meant there would not be another post-ban comeback.

For his county, however, he went on and on. In 1983, he bowled 919 overs in the Championship and took 105 wickets. “His contribution towards Kent’s re-emergence as a force to be reckoned with in the four major competitions cannot be too highly stressed,” wrote Dudley Moore in Wisden. Always a plucky tailender, he achieved a long-nursed ambition by making a century, in a low-scoring tie against Sussex at Hastings in 1984, after going in as nightwatchman. It was his 591st first-class match: no one has waited longer for a maiden century, and no one with a hundred has ended up with a lower average than Underwood’s eventual 10.12. Twenty years earlier, he had taken his career-best figures, 9-28, also against Sussex, on the same ground. At the end of 1987, he called it a day. In the last of his 676 first-class matches, he bowled 59 overs and took four Leicestershire wickets, including David Gower, to finish with 2,465 at 20, and an economy-rate of 2.14. He worked in sales for his brother’s cricket-equipment company, and in 2009 was president of MCC. He suffered from dementia in his final years.

Watching him bow out at Canterbury in 1987 was Claude Lewis, the Kent scorer who had been one of the first coaches to spot his potential. “We tried to get him to bowl slower and cultivate loop,” he recalled. “We soon dropped all that. He was something unique in the way he fired the ball in at near medium-pace. I have never seen anyone like him.”