In which Dennis Amiss opens up to Arunabha Sengupta :
On his getting a hundred against New Zealand after Geoff Boycott was run out for one:
(laughs) He did say that thing. [The b**** is getting all my runs.]
And when I called him at his home, his mother answered and said, “Yes I’ll get him, who’s speaking?” I said, “Dennis Amiss” and she hung up, saying, “He’s not in.”
Things are okay between us now. I have always had the greatest regard for him as a batsman. But, there is always some banter between us about the incident. When I took my grandson to Lord’s a few years back, Geoffrey was there in the commentary box. He came down and started telling my grandson about my running between the wickets, in language that I am sure he had never heard before.
On getting 203 at The Oval with Michael Holding picking up all those wickets in 1976:
It was a very good wicket at The Oval. I was making a comeback and had changed my style. I went back and across to the bowling. That is how I had played most of the season, and it worked. Michael got the wickets because he was an exceptional bowler. He could bowl quick and was accurate as well.
Tony Greig used to rile up the fast bowlers. He had this theory that it would make them lose their composure, make them try too hard, bowl too fast, and that would make them bowl a few loose balls. It suited him; it did not suit the other players. And, of course, he had said before the series that he would make the West Indies ‘grovel’, which is not quite the right thing to say to a team as talented as that and who had a pace attack as great as that. Prior to his coming out to bat, it had been quite nice. The bowling had been 90 miles per hour, one bouncer per over. Holding and [Andy] Roberts were taking a break. As soon as Tony Greig emerged, they came back. It went up to 95 miles per hour, three bouncers an over. And then Holding’s yorker knocked his leg stump out of the ground. Geoff Miller came in and it was back to 90 miles per hour and one bouncer per over.
It was the only time in my life I was happy to see an England captain lose his wicket.
[ Actually Underwood and Knott had come in before Miller. Amiss had not batted with Miller that innings]
On getting loads of runs in West Indies in the previous series:
They were not that great a bowling side yet. Garry [Sobers] was still playing, Bernard Julien was good with the new ball, Keith Boyce was quick for a few overs, Lance Gibbs was there. The wickets again were very good for batting. I suppose I had some luck as well, which the other batsmen did not.
On his amazing conversion rate [11 100s and 11 50s in Tests, four 100s and one 50 in ODIs:
I always wanted to score runs. I knew that sometime down the line, maybe later in the season, I would not get that many. So, when I started to score runs I wanted to make it big. I owe it to my coaches, Tiger Smith and Tom Dollery, who taught me never to give it away. Batting allows you to learn about yourself, and I loved the experience. I just loved to bat.
On being one of the early greats of ODI cricket: [Average of 47 with 4 hundreds in 18 matches]
I always found one-day cricket enjoyable. They were played on good wickets. In one-day cricket, it is better to add bowling as a second string to your bow. Else one needs to be a very good fielder, keep himself fit. I like the way it has made the game more professional now. The innovations brought about by Twenty 20 are also great.
On Kerry Packer’s World Series Cricket:
For me it was a risk, because Warwickshire was taking a stance against WSC. I always expected to play for an England side, but it became a World eleven. However, a lot of good things did come out of it. The exposure was great; there were a lot of marvellous players from all over the world. Some like Eddie Barlow were entertainers, larger than life.
It was very, very competitive, the highest standard of cricket. And the game changed after that. Money came in, the players now have central contracts. All that happened because of World Series and Tony Greig played a big part.
On being the first to don a helmet in WSC:
True, I started the trend of helmets. We had been hit on the head once or twice. I spoke to Tony Greig, Alan Knott, Keith Fletcher and Derek Underwood about it and they encouraged me to try it out. It was far easier to introduce it during the World Series than in Test cricket. It was met with a lot of approval.
It was apparent that others wanted to wear helmets too. Tony Greig, Zaheer Abbas, Mushtaq Mohammad all of them started wearing them. I knew it would catch on, but it would take time. Initially, it was not considered macho. Clubs used to carry just one helmet. But, gradually it became more widespread. Nowadays it is compulsory to wear a helmet while batting in schools.
The helmet also helped me to extend my First-Class career.
On whether he is bothered that he is not counted among the best English opening batsmen like Hobbs, Sutcliffe, Hutton and Boycott in spite of having a great record:
No, it does not bother me. I know what I have done, and that’s good enough. All the names you mentioned were great players. Later we had Graham Gooch. He was another exceptional opener. So, it does not worry me. I suppose I am not considered because I did not get runs against Australia, and that is fair enough.
There are always going to be folks better than you. I’m satisfied with what I achieved as an administrator and a player