[Cricket] RIP Mike Hendrick

[Gwylan]

Not unexpected news as he'd been ill for some time, but sad nonetheless.

He wasn't as feted as Snow, Willis or Botham but he was a vital part of England's attack in the late 70s and early 80s. He was never quick and wasn't a devastating swing bowler as Botham but he was naggingly accurate, got decent seam movement and could tie up an end when the glamour boys got the glory - he played 30 test but didn't snag a five-fer in that time. With his hunched shoulders and mournful demeanour, he had the look of a man who carried the cares of the world on his back - maybe it was the fact that he was so often the squad member to get dropped from the final XI.

He elected to go on the ill-fated South African tour of the 80s and he never played for England again, a sad end to his international career.

And yet another departure from the 1981 Ashes winners, joining Woolmer, Dilley and Willis in the Elysian Fields line-up

 

[Weststander]

I first got into TV watching of cricket in summer 77, the Ashes series, my first ever test viewing Boycott’s 100th 100 at Headingly.

I loved that England team, Hendrick was key at taking wickets with his unerringly metronomic seam bowling. A hero.

RIP, thank you for the memories.

 

[GREASED WEASEL]

remember him well

a fine bowler

RIP Mike

 

[Shropshire Seagull]

Another one of my boyhood cricketing heros gone.

RIP Mr Hendrick

 

[Machiavelli]

I first got into TV watching of cricket in summer 77, the Ashes series, my first ever test viewing Boycott’s 100th 100 at Headingly.

I loved that England team, Hendrick was key at taking wickets with his unerringly metronomic seam bowling. A hero.

RIP, thank you for the memories.

Pretty sure I did too, which is a shame, because we missed Whispering Death unleashing exocets on bone-hard pitches from the previous year. You can catch up on that on Babylon on Fire
Enjoy the hols. An NSC-free period might enhance them further. Perhaps.

 

[Weststander]

Pretty sure I did too, which is a shame, because we missed Whispering Death unleashing exocets on bone-hard pitches from the previous year. You can catch up on that on Babylon on Fire
Enjoy the hols. An NSC-free period might enhance them further. Perhaps.

I’ve always been an unsporting bad loser, so I was glad at the time to have missed 76. 77 was a good time to start liking England - Gower, Randall, Gooch, Botham, Knott/Taylor, Willis, some great spinners and Hendrick.

Only later admiring the brilliance of those Windies teams.

(Chilling out listening to Ibizan music on the radio, waiting for teen daughter. An amble on nsc and web is relaxing ).

 

[Gwylan]

I’ve always been an unsporting bad loser, so I was glad at the time to have missed 76. 77 was a good time to start liking England - Gower, Randall, Gooch, Botham, Knott/Taylor, Willis, some great spinners and Hendrick.

A pedant writes: Gower made his test debut against Pakistan in 1976, famously hitting his first ball for four. And Gooch wasn't in the side in 1977 either, he'd made his debut in 75 but was dropped and didn't return until 1978 (and Taylor wasn't in the side either). Botham did play in two of the tests - and took a five-fer in each of them.

That was a good series to start with though. England trounced the Aussies and had some fine players. As well of the ones you mentioned, Greig, Amiss and Underwood played (and subsequently blotted their copybook by signing up for Packer). It was also a pretty hot summer IIRC. It was my first summer working so I missed a lot of the cricket that year

 

[LamieRobertson]

One of those bowlers that I’ll never forget …RIP Mr Hendrick

 

[Sid in the Sharknado]

I'm not mad on statistics, but since I'm not old enough to have seen him play I'll throw this in there: Depending on where you draw the line for a sensible number of games played, he has roughly the 10th best average of England's fast bowlers since the war with 87 wickets at 25.8. He managed to improve that record in his matches in Australia with 21 wickets at 19.9

RIP Mike

 

[Mellor 3 Ward 4]

Not unexpected news as he'd been ill for some time, but sad nonetheless.

He wasn't as feted as Snow, Willis or Botham but he was a vital part of England's attack in the late 70s and early 80s. He was never quick and wasn't a devastating swing bowler as Botham but he was naggingly accurate, got decent seam movement and could tie up an end when the glamour boys got the glory - he played 30 test but didn't snag a five-fer in that time. With his hunched shoulders and mournful demeanour, he had the look of a man who carried the cares of the world on his back - maybe it was the fact that he was so often the squad member to get dropped from the final XI.

He elected to go on the ill-fated South African tour of the 80s and he never played for England again, a sad end to his international career.

And yet another departure from the 1981 Ashes winners, joining Woolmer, Dilley and Willis in the Elysian Fields line-up

Summed up perfectly.

As you say, another one gone from that summer 40 (!!) years ago.

RIP Mike.

 

[Shropshire Seagull]

A pedant writes: Gower made his test debut against Pakistan in 1976, famously hitting his first ball for four. And Gooch wasn't in the side in 1977 either, he'd made his debut in 75 but was dropped and didn't return until 1978 (and Taylor wasn't in the side either). Botham did play in two of the tests - and took a five-fer in each of them.

That was a good series to start with though. England trounced the Aussies and had some fine players. As well of the ones you mentioned, Greig, Amiss and Underwood played (and subsequently blotted their copybook by signing up for Packer). It was also a pretty hot summer IIRC. It was my first summer working so I missed a lot of the cricket that year

Indeed that summer of '76 was glorious - didn't rain for weeks - also my first "going to work" experience after leaving Longhill.

I got hit on the head [no helmets back then] by a West-Indian quick in the nets that summer and stopped playing cricket for several years [took up motorcycle racing instead].

Happy days ...