Derek Underwood, England's greatest spinner, passes away at 78

Derek Underwood Englands best spinner in the postWorld War II era who gave a torrid time to the legendary Sunil Gavaskar passed away at Kent on Monday He was 78Underwood a practitioner of slow leftarm orthodox spin was highly regarded by his contemporaries because of his pinpoint accuracy something which made him Deadly on uncovered pitches of the 60s and 70sThe Bromleyman had numbers to match his reputation too 297 wickets from 86 Tests the most by an England spinner and in a FirstClass career that spanned 24 years he took 2465 wicketsBut the numbers told only a part of the story One of Underwoods finest moments on the field came in 1977 when he took 29 wickets to help England beat India 31 in a fivematch seriesIt was the Three Lions first series win on these shores since their victory in the 193334 tour under the legendary Douglas JardineAlso ReadCoach Boucher lavishes praise on Rohit Sharma after valiant ton at WankhedeHedley Verity another crafty leftarm spinner was the architect of that triumph taking 24 wickets across three TestsFour decades down the line Underwood kept the legacy of Verity intact in the company of pacer John Lever who took 24 wickets to support his spin colleague ablyIt was a wonderful effort from Underwood against a set of Indian batsmen led by the inimitable Gavaskar whom he had dismissed 12 times in Test cricket the most by any bowlerFormer Pakistan captain Imran Khan and West Indian fastbowling legend Michael Holding had dismissed the Little Master 11 times each in the longest formatGavaskar too had admitted Underwoods grip on himIt was tough to face Underwood in any conditions He was so accurate and bowled on the stumpsSince 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 Gavaskar had mentioned recentlyOverall Underwood played 20 Tests against India taking 62 wicketsThough primarily a bowler Underwood was also a gritty lowerorder batter who put his body on the line against some of the fiercest pacers of his time particularly while coming down as a nightwatchmanThere were also streaks of controversies in Underwoods career as he had forfeited two years of his Test career to play in the Kerry Packers World Series Cricket and later he was banned for touring South Africa with the England rebel team in 1981Much after his playing days Underwood who was also a successful businessman as a retailer for rollin pitches also dabbled with administration serving as the MCC president for a year in 2008But for an older generation Underwoods craft will remain beautiful in execution and deadly in its effectWith agency inputs