Derek Underwood
English cricketer
Died when: 78 years 312 days (946 months)Star Sign: Gemini
Derek Leslie Underwood MBE (born 8 June 1945) was an English former international cricketer, and a former President of the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC).
Through much of his career, Underwood was regarded as one of the best bowlers in Test cricket.Although classified as a slow left-arm orthodox spin bowler, Underwood bowled at around medium pace and was often unplayable on seaming English wickets, particularly sticky wickets, earning his nickname 'Deadly', and accounting for the saying that England would "carry Underwood like an umbrella, in case of rain".
Underwood was noted for his consistent accuracy, and his inswinging arm ball was particularly noted for dismissing batsmen leg before wicket.
Keith Dunstan wrote that he was "inclined to wear a hole in the pitch by dropping the ball on the same spot...".
Underwood was a first-class bowler from his teens, and he took his 100th Test wicket and 1,000th first-class wicket in 1971, aged only 25.
Only George Lohmann and Wilfred Rhodes had secured a thousand wickets at an earlier age than Underwood.He used to say that bowling was a 'low mentality profession: plug away, line and length, until there's a mistake', and sooner or later every batsman would make a mistake.
He would finish his Test career with 297 wickets, and had it not been for his involvement in World Series Cricket and the rebel tour to South Africa, there is little doubt he would have had more than 300 Test wickets.
On 16 July 2009, Underwood was inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame, along with others including Neil Harvey, David Gower and Allan Border.
