Dennis Amiss

Dennis Amiss

Personal information
Full name	Dennis Leslie Amiss
Born	7 April 1943 (1943-04-07) Harborne, Birmingham, England, United Kingdom
Nickname	Sacker
Height	5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)
Batting style	Right-handed
Bowling style	Left arm medium Slow left arm orthodox
International information
National side	England
Test debut (cap 434)	18 August 1966 v West Indies
Last Test	12 July 1977 v Australia
ODI debut (cap 12)	24 August 1972 v Australia
Last ODI	6 June 1977 v Australia
Domestic team information
Years	Team
1960–1987	Warwickshire
Career statistics
Competition	Test	ODI	FC	LA
Matches	50	18	658	404
Runs scored	3,612	859	43,423	12,519
Batting average	46.30	47.72	42.86	35.06
100s/50s	11/11	4/1	102/212	15/77
Top score	262*	137	262*	137
Balls bowled	0	0	1,153	129
Wickets	–	–	18	2
Bowling average	–	–	39.88	62.50
5 wickets in innings	–	–	0	–
10 wickets in match	–	n/a	0	n/a
Best bowling	–	–	3/21	1/15
Catches/stumpings	24/–	2/–	417/–	105/–
Source: Cricinfo, 28 October 2009

Dennis Leslie Amiss MBE (born 7 April 1943, Harborne, Birmingham, Warwickshire) was an English cricketer and cricket administrator.

Amiss suffered a serious back injury whilst playing soccer in his teenage years, which entailed him starting each day of his sporting life undergoing stretching routines to loosen up.

He played cricket for both Warwickshire County Cricket Club and England. A right-handed batsman, Amiss was a brilliant stroke maker particularly through extra cover and midwicket - his two favourite areas to score runs. He was an accomplished batsman in all forms of the game. He averaged 42.86 in first-class, 35.06 in List-A, 46.30 in Tests and 47.72 in One Day Internationals. In first-class cricket he scored 102 centuries, and his England record amassed over 50 Tests ranks him with the best England has produced.

After retiring as a player in 1987, he served Warwickshire as Chairman of the Cricket Committee, and he followed David Heath as Chief Executive from 1994 until 2005. In 1992 he was selected as an England selector. He was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Birmingham in the summer of 2007.

England career

Amiss made his Test debut for England in the fifth Test of the 1966 series with West Indies, and he proved an accomplished Test match batsman. He was one of the first batsman to use a protective helmet. In scoring 3,612 Test runs, Amiss made eleven half-centuries and eleven centuries, including two double centuries against the West Indies. His highest Test match score, also his highest first-class score, was 262 not out against the West Indies in the 1973-74 Kingston Test, an innings that saved the Test match for England after they conceded a first innings lead of 230. The next highest score in England's innings was 38. After being dropped by England in 1975, he made a successful return against the West Indies at The Oval in the final Test of 1976, although his 203 in the first innings did not prevent England losing the match. Amiss's last Test came in 1977 when he was left out to make way for Geoff Boycott's return from self imposed exile.

His former Warwickshire team mate, Jack Bannister, stated "Dennis was always tinkering with his game, he was a bigger perfectionist than Colin Cowdrey".

Amiss was also a handy One Day International batsman scoring 859 runs, including four centuries and one half-century, with a top score of 137 against India which is still England's highest individual score in the Cricket World Cup. He has the distinction of scoring the first ever One Day International century (103 in only the second One Day International in 1972). He ended with an ODI batting average of 47.72, which excepting those players to have played fewer than five times, remains the highest of any England batsman who has completed his career. The still-active Kevin Pietersen averaged over 50 throughout the first 60 matches of his ODI career up until September 2007, but that figure had fallen to under 41 by June 2011.

He was selected as one of the five Wisden Cricketers of the Year in 1975.

A graph of Dennis Amiss's Test performances.

External links

• Dennis Amiss at Cricinfo
• Dennis Amiss at CricketArchive