OTD| Captain Mike Denness shockingly left himself out of England’s side for fourth Test against Australia in 1975

During the 1974-75 Ashes, the fourth Test of the series started on this day in 1975. Ahead of the game, the home team, Australia were leading the series by 2-0 and needed to win another game to win the series. On the other hand, England needed to win to remain alive in the series. However, ahead of the game, England skipper Mike Denness dropped himself from the team.

He was the controversial choice after Ray Illingworth’s captaincy came to an end in September 1973. The former was said to not be good enough to even keep his place in the team, leaving aside captaincy. Even though he was captain in the famous escape against West Indies 1973-74, his ability or lack of handling pace bowling was always criticized. During the 1974-75 Ashes, Denness was regarded as the lost captain by the Sunday Times.

He had considered stepping down as early as the Perth Test, the second Test. After the third Test at Melbourne – a close and low-scoring draw – he admitted that he lay down in his hotel and realized that runs were needed and he was not the man to get them. He expressed his belief that he was a successful captain but a poor player.

As it turned out, the decision had no impact on the result the team had in the New Year’s Test match. Batting first, the Kangaroos amassed 405 all-out. John Edrich, who led the team in place of Mike, scored a fifty and the team finished at 295 all-out. Leading by 110 runs, the home team went on to score 289/5 declared and asked the Three Lions to chase down 400 runs. In reply, the visitors managed 228 all-out, losing the game by 171 runs. In the end, they lost the series by 4-1