Denis Compton by Tim Heald

Author:Tim Heald
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Dean Street Press
Published: 2015-03-19T00:00:00+00:00

When Compton returned to the crease at Old Trafford with plaster over a stitched cut inflicted by a Lindwall no-ball which the bat of England’s most popular player diverted close to his eyes – an injury not all that dissimilar to Oldfield’s – there was no great outburst of protest when the bowler greeted him with further bumpers. The mild and affable Lindwall kidded the batsman that he was going to knock the plaster off. The humour behind the remark was lost on Compton.

Forty years on Denis seemed to have regained his sense of humour and talked about the incident with a grin, albeit a rueful one. He was beaten several times and gave chance after chance. He also ran Alec Bedser out with a bad call after Bradman and Loxton collided in the field. But he battled on and on. The indefatigable Batchelor thought he was like ‘Samson at the Temple of Gaza’. In the end he made 145 not out and England advanced from 141 for 6 to 363 all out. Fingleton was moved to wonder ‘what would have happened had he not been hurt and made his runs at second wicket down instead of much lower down when he came to bat after being injured’. But the point was that after the debacle of Lord’s Denis restored some pride. Or as Batchelor put it, ‘While Compton lived the lion had wings.’

Denis thinks that this was the innings, more than any other, which won the north of England over to his side. Hitherto they had seen him as a dilettante – all style and no substance. Now they had no alternative but to admit that the cavalier had grit and backbone too.

In the middle of this epic Old Trafford encounter there was another odd incident that went unreported, but which, many years later, Denis told me about. He had been a keen and proficient golfer since those early days with Arsenal, and felt he would like to join a club. At first he considered Beaconsfield, which was the nearest to his home in Gerrards Cross, but a friend of his, a Cambridge man and, in Denis’s phrase, ‘out of the top drawer’, told him he couldn’t possibly join Beaconsfield and he ought to go to Denham which was an altogether better class of club.

Denis wasn’t sure. Denham was very snobby and Denis was a professional. To the unpaid, amateur Hon. Sec. of the Denham Club this looked like ‘trade’. Famous though he might be, Compton was really only qualified for the Artisans. He wasn’t really a gent. Not officer class.

His friend, the Cambridge man, told him not to be ridiculous and that he should certainly not be deterred.

Denis recalled being one of the not-out batsmen at close of play on the Saturday evening of that Old Trafford Test in 1948. Once back in the dressing room, he put his feet up and began to drink the usual pint of beer brought for him by the steward.

Halfway through it a message came to say that someone wished to speak to him on the telephone.

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