Derek Underwood

Derek Underwood MBE (born Derek Leslie Underwood, 8 June 1945, Bromley, Kent, England) is an English former international cricketer, and a former President of the MCC.

Underwood was one of the foremost spin bowlers in the world for over a decade, starting from the late 1960s. Not a classical spinner, 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". His inswinging arm ball was particularly noted for dismissing batsmen leg before wicket. Underwood is noted for his consistent accuracy and Keith Dunstan wrote that he "is inclined to wear a hole in the pitch by dropping the ball on the same spot...".p60, Richard Whitington, Captains Outrageous? Cricket in the seventies, Stanley Paul, 1972

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.p280, Chris Cowdrey and Jonathan Smith, Good Enough, Pelham Books, 1986 and sooner or later every...
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