When a 21-year-old Derek Underwood made his Test debut at Trent Bridge, Brian Scovell scoffed: “The dearth of spin bowlers in English cricket is such that the man the selectors finally chose is not really a spinner at all. He is a slow-medium cutter and floater rather than a genuine tweaker.”
Throughout his career Underwood had to battle against criticism of his bowling too fast, not giving it enough air, being more intent on containing runs than picking up wickets. Colin Cowdrey set up nets at the back of his own house to help him with his action and line. Alec Bedser wanted him to modify his style and bowl slower. As for the man himself, he tried everything. In his own words, unless he switched to right-arm, there was hardly anything left to experiment.
And then, two years down the line, the smiling young man waved from the balcony of Oval pavilion. The crowd had come down to the ground, using their coats, scarves, handkerchiefs to dry the playing area. And on that rain-affected strip, Underwood with 7 for 50 had clinched victory against the Aussies with minutes to go on the clock. He had become a hero.
Steady medium pace off 10 steps. On wet wickets he was unplayable. He had come straight out of Beckenham and Penge Grammar School and started taking wickets for Kent. When as a 19-year-old he bowled Kent to a close 14-run victory over Yorkshire with 7 for 97, the newspaper headlines screamed Angel Babe tames Yorkshire.
But somehow, he remained known as the unconventional bowler, not a real spinner. Worse still, he was dubbed a wet pitch demon.
True he was unplayable on wet wickets. Oval 1968 did a lot for the legend. At Hastings in 1973, he demolished Sussex with figures of 8 for 9 after the entire Kent team had taken off their shoes and helped the Fire Brigade mop up another flooded ground.
Hence, the reputation stuck. In spite of bowling England to numerous victories on very decent surfaces, around the world.
That included India in 1976-77. Against the supposed champion bats against spin, and pitted against the famous quartet of Indian spinners in their backyard. Bedi captured 25 wickets in the series at 22.96, Chandra 19 at 28.26, Prasanna 18 at 21.61, Venkat was the one who disappointed with a measly 2 at 47.00. Underwood beat them all with 29 wickets at 17.55. He bowled slower, gave it more air. The Indian batsmen, for all their supposed proficiency against spin, struggled. Gavaskar fell to him 6 times that winter. Viswanath 3. England won the series 3-1.
His tally could have been much bigger had he not courted disapproval by joining World Series Cricket in 1977 and then touring South Africa in 1982. Additionally, many a times the English team management preferred more traditional spinners and greater turners of the ball such as Norman Gifford. It is strange to reflect that a bowler of Underwood’s success was often left out from the England team. There were very few series in which he played all the Tests.
However, he still managed 86 Tests and 297 wickets at 25.83. Among all left-arm spinners since the Second World War, only Johnny Wardle and Tony Lock have better numbers (and the unfinished career of Ravindra Jadeja) .
Derek Underwood passed away on 15 April 2024. A geniine great.