DENNIS AMISS

Dennis played in 50 Tests averaging over 46 scoring 11 centuries with 262* being his highest score. In ODI’s he averaged 47 with 137 his top score. In all First Class cricket he scored over 43000 runs at an average of 43 and is on the elite list of players who have scored a century of 100’s. He also took 18 wickets.

Dennis played his first game for Warwickshire in July, 1960 against Surrey at the Oval. He did not bat. In fact he watched Horner and Ibadulla share an unbroken partnership of 377 for the first wicket.

In the next few years he learnt a lot about the game from Tiger Smith, Tom Dollery, and Derief Taylor, whose work as a coach has gained him a legendary reputation at Edgbaston.

From 1966 he became an established player in the number three position, and was easily top of the Warwickshire averages, at 54.78 During that season Amiss played in three Test matches but success eluded him. The Australians came over in 1968, and he played in the first Test at Old Trafford. He had an unhappy game, and bagged a pair The disaster at Old Trafford may well have affected his confidence. The period from 1969 until mid-June 1972 was one of comparatively modest achievement.

The summer of 1972 was a turning point for Dennis. Alan Smith, the Warwickshire captain, had six contenders for the five places available for specialist batsmen. Amiss, unable to strike form in the early weeks of the season, had to be left out of the side. How he could get back? He was keen to chance his arm as an opening batsman and was given the chance of opening the innings with John Jameson against Middlesex. He scored 151 not out!! Later he scored 156 not out against Worcestershire, 192 against Lancashire and 121 not out against Kent. Warwickshire ran away with the Championship, and Amiss finished top of the Warwickshire batting averages, his 1129 runs averaging 66.41. At the end of August he played with exhilarating confidence in the three Prudential Trophy games, scoring a brilliant century at Old Trafford and receiving the award as the England Man of the Series. Not surprisingly he was chosen for the M.C.C. party to tour India and Pakistan in 1972-3.

Playing in his thirteenth Test match for England, against Pakistan at Lahore, although handicapped by illness, he scored his first Test century, and now the floodgates were opened. In his first twelve Test matches (1966-1972) Amiss scored 348 runs in 19 completed innings, for an average of 18.32; in his next twenty Tests (1972-74) in 30 completed innings, he scored 2140 runs for an average of 71.33, and he hit eight centuries.

Two great innings against West Indies, 262 not out to save the 1973-74 Kingston Test and 203 at The Oval in 1976, supplied ample evidence that Dennis Amiss lacked neither courage nor technique against fast bowling. In that Oval match Michael Holding took 16 wickets in an attack completed by Andy Roberts, Wayne Daniel and Van Holder. Strongly built, tireless and four-square at the crease, Amiss was harder to get out, once he had 40 on the board, than any batsman of his generation. Of Amiss's 11 Test hundreds, eight exceeded 150, a higher proportion even than that of Don Bradman. His power, timing and placement through extra cover and midwicket, his two great scoring areas, could sometimes make him uncontrollable. To the regret of his many admirers, however, Amiss's dismal record against Australia denied him acceptance as a top-ranking England batsman. Starting with a pair, at Old Trafford in 1968, and later running into Dennis Lillee and Jeff Thomson at their fastest, he made seven ducks in 21 innings against them, averaging 15.25. He did well in the early days of limited-overs internationals, scoring England's first ODI century and averaging 47.

In 1973 against New Zealand he scored a century, and also ran out Geoff Boycott! When he returned to the pavilion Boycott wouldn't talk to him. He told Raymond Illingworth, the captain, that he was going to run him out in the next Test match. In the end Illingworth attempted a truce, warning Boycott that he would never play for England as long as he was captain. After some time Boycott agreed that he would not run Dennis out on purpose.

He was paid £200 in his last Test match, in 1977. How times have changed!

He retired in 1987 and has since given great service to Warwickshire. He has been Chairman of the Cricket Committee and later Chief Executive for 10 years. He was given an Honorary Doctorate by Birmingham University in 2007.

In January he was formally retained as deputy chairman of the England and Wales Cricket Board. This will be his third year in the position, for which he stood unopposed. "Dennis brings a wealth of cricketing knowledge and opinion to the boardroom table and is respected throughout the cricketing world," said Giles Clarke, the ECB chairman. "He has also served the game as ECB chairman of the cricket committee as well as in his current position as deputy chairman."