He finished with wickets in Test cricket and was unfortunate not to have overhauled the mark. He is also the most successful spinner for England. In a county game against Sussex in , Underwood managed his only First-Class ton. In the second innings, Underwood was sent in to bat at No. This was after Kent had been bowled out for 92 in the first innings and then managed to bundle out Sussex for In a low-scoring encounter, Underwood scored only hundred on both sides.
Kent managed to setup a target of for Sussex and the game ended in a tie. Underwood has dismissed the great Sunil Gavaskar the most number of times in Test cricket. In the 20 Tests they played against each other, he had Gavaskar s wicket 12 times. Imran Khan and Michael Holding are next in the list, having dismissed Gavaskar 11 times each. The interesting stat about Underwood is that he dismissed Greg Chappell 13 times in Test cricket.
He was clearly at his best against the finest batsmen in that era. A spinner needs an able ally behind the stumps. In Alan Knott, Underwood found the perfect gloveman in both county and international cricket. In the 72 Test they played together, they effected 27 dismissals. However, they were a bigger success in county cricket, having shared the dressing room for Kent.
In , their county honoured them by naming a stand at the St Lawrence Cricket Ground after them. England vs New Zealand 1st Semi-Final.
Pakistan vs Australia 2nd Semi-Final. New Zealand vs Australia Final. Tasmania vs South Australia 9th Match. Queensland vs Western Australia 10th Match. Eastern Cape vs Mpumalanga Rhinos Division 2. Victoria vs New South Wales 6th Match.
Zimbabwe Women v Bangladesh Women, The affection and appreciation was mutual. Deadly reckoned "Knotty" could read his mind, and loved his mate's input. For all the innate skill and the repeated action, there was an insecurity about Underwood that surprised even Knott.
He didn't, for example, set his own fields and neither did he mind the captain fiddling about with them. The first ball of Underwood's first over spun past the bat and kept going past Tonker's gloves. The next ball did exactly the same. The third ball was the quick one that missed leg stump by a fraction and Tonker, by now utterly confused and still floundering around off stump, waved goodbye to the third consecutive four byes.
Kent have been fortunate with stumpers. William "Hopper" Levett was a tremendous character, who mainly stood in for Ames when he was away with England. Hopper was in the pub one night, hard on the hops he farmed, when the landlord whispered that a wireless report suggested Ames was sick and that Hopper might be called up the next day.
Hopper had heard such stories turn to dust before and decided to drink on. Come the morning, come the call up. Worse for wear, Hopper moved not a muscle when the first ball of the day was left alone by the batsman, and by Hopper, as it flew over his head.
The slip fielders looked rather shocked that the match had begun with a stationary keeper and four byes. Next ball, the batsman played and missed, and again, Hopper, still in the crouch position, remained motionless as the ball whistled between him and the first-slip fielder for four more. The third ball was down the leg side and the batsman played the meatiest of leg glances. From the face of the bat, the ball flew towards fine leg for a certain boundary only to be intercepted by the flying Hopper, who, with body horizontal and left arm at full stretch, pulled off a blinding catch.
He came up with the ball to find himself surrounded by astonished team-mates dying to hear an explanation. It's a hackneyed story but has stood the test of time. Most cricket stories do. Knotty barely had a drink in his life, save a small celebratory glass of white wine. His idiosyncrasies were the stuff of legend, as was his adherence to health, well-being and practice. On tours he tended to room with Geoff Boycott - teetotals as one - but even Boycott was startled by the meticulous dawn routine.
To us outsiders, Knott was just the nicest man and the most generously spirited opponent. Above everything, though, were the hints of genius. Boycott says that in Australia in , they didn't see Knott drop a single ball until the first morning of the seventh Test, and that the moment was greeted with shock by all and sundry, not least the Australians.
To this day Jeff Thomson talks about Knott's guts against the fastest bowling and about the innovative and infuriating shots he played - notably the upper cut - in As the others were being mown down by Lillian Thomson, Knott and Tony Greig did all they could to stitch the wounds. Knotty "drove us nuts," says Thommo. He drove us Hampshire players nuts too. At Bournemouth, we watched in awe as he went down on one knee to sweep Malcolm Marshall for six.
Not before or since had we, or did we, see such madness make for such brilliance. Marshall applauded. Dark, neat, lithe, fast-eyed and fleet-footed, Knott was as engaging as Evans before him and no less extrovert, though in a very different way.
Evans was showy and immense fun; Knott was discreet and kind, which is not to say he was soft - far from it. His love of cricket overrode the cynicism of the professional game and his modesty was a lesson to us all.
He had a buoyancy that lifted the team through testing sessions and an air of optimism that made the impossible seem probable. His glovework was economical, his footwork accurate. He taught himself the art of diving safely, so that the ball stayed in the gloves, and on occasion, his acrobatics were heart-stopping in their brilliance. But it was when he was up to the stumps for Underwood that he shone above all others, and that day at Canterbury he took a truly magnificent catch when another Deadly special kicked violently out of the leg-stump rough and brushed the glove of a batsman looking to turn the ball to midwicket.
Lightning reflexes and the whip of his right hand made it appear, for a split second, as if the ball had vanished. Then he tossed it in the air with an improbable serenity and the brightest smile. His relationship with Underwood is the stuff of another age, as is the photograph in which they appear together at The Oval in After a freak storm that flooded the field on the final afternoon, hundreds of excited spectators helped the ground staff's mopping-up operation and with five minutes to spare, Underwood trapped John Inverarity lbw to win the game and level the series.
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