Denis Compton

Denis Charles Scott Compton CBE (23 May 1918 in Hendon, Middlesex – 23 April 1997 in Windsor, Berkshire) was an English cricketer who played in 78 Test matches and spent his whole cricket career with Middlesex. He was also an accomplished footballer who played most of his football career at Arsenal.

A right-handed batsman and slow left-arm chinaman bowler, Compton is regularly credited as one of England's most remarkable batsmen. He is one of only twenty-five players to have scored over one hundred centuries in first-class cricket. In 2009, Compton was posthumously inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame. The Denis Compton Oval and a stand at Lord's Cricket Ground are both named in his honour.

Cricket career

Early years

Compton was born and brought up in the north London suburb of Hendon. He was the second son and youngest child of Henry Ernest Compton and Jessie Anne Duthie; he had one older brother, Leslie Harry (born 1912) and one older sister, Hilda (born 1913). He was educated at an elementary school and joined the MCC ground staff at Lord's in 1934. By the late 1930s, Compton was one of England's finest batsmen, and remained at the top of his profession for some twenty years. His dashing approach to batting and the sheer enjoyment he exuded endeared him to a generation of cricket lovers. As an all-rounder Compton was a right-hand bat and a slow left-arm Chinaman bowler.