FORMER England cricket captain Mike Denness has died at the age of 72. Born in Scotland, Denness played 28 Tests and 12 one-day internationals in a career that spanned 22 years.

He was a former captain of Kent, and later went on to become an ICC match referee. He died after a lengthy battle with cancer.
Denness was the only Scotsman to have ever captained England in what was a controversial stint in charge as he famously dropped himself for the fourth Ashes Test in Sydney during the 1974-75 tour after he was unable to cope with the pace and fury of quick bowlers Dennis Lillee and Jeff Thomson.
He led the country in 19 of his 28 Tests and scored 188 at the MCG which was, at the time, the highest score by an England captain in Australia.
Domestically he represented Essex and Kent, scoring a combined 25 000 first-class runs for the two counties.
After retiring, Denness became a match referee but his decision to sanction six Indian players, including Sachin Tendulkar, during a Test against South Africa in Port Elizabeth in 2001-02 sparked a row that led to both teams barring him from officiating in the next match.
Denness was awarded an OBE in the New Year’s Honours list for services to cricket. (Eurosport)