THE DEADLY SPINNER

Left-arm spinner Derek Underwood’s real accomplishment lay in his all-round wizardry

ENGLAND’S MOST PROLIFIC Test left-arm spinner Derek Underwood, nicknamed “Deadly”, the precursor to quick-ish spinners like Anil Kumble, died on April 15, aged 78. His moniker was a testament to his prowess on “wet” pitches on rainy days in England but his real accomplishment lay in his allround wizardry: Until recently, he had the most number of wickets, 54, by an overseas spinner in India, Sunil Gavaskar was his “bunny”, dismissed 12 times by him, and on Australian pitches more known for pace in that era, he took 50 wickets including 16 in the Ashes series of 1970-71.

Said Gavaskar, recently, as tribute: “Since he had this ability to bowl quick when he wanted, you had to be in position very early to play the shots. He was the toughest bowler I faced along with Andy Roberts.” It’s that trait, “when he wanted”, that Underwood too would emphasise in his interviews. He had a long run-up for a spinner, and would focus on “drop” rather than flighted loop, releasing the ball from his fingers that fraction of a second earlier to make it slow down and drop rapidly on the batsmen. That only 24 of 297 wickets were lbw victims for this claustrophobia-inducing spinner was due to the fact that he played in the pre-drs era where ultra-conservative umpiring was the order of the day. He would bowl wider of the crease than most spinners as he felt that it suited his pace and also allowed him to pull down on the ball — cut and spin — more.

He rated Geoffrey Boycott, whom he bowled in county cricket in England, Pakistan’s Zaheer Abbas and Basil D’oliveira as some of the best batsmen against him. Viv Richards, too, had a good record against an aging Underwood. In 1977, he signed up for Kerry Packer’s rebel league and missed Test cricket for two years. In 1982, he was banned for three years for participating in the rebel tour of Apartheid South Africa and never played for England again.