<p>Former England captain Mike Denness died aged 72 on Friday after a long battle with cancer. </p>.<p>Denness was the only Scotsman ever to captain England, leading the team in 19 of his 28 Tests between 1969 and 1975. </p>.<p>He also played 12 one-day internationals and went onto become an ICC match referee. <br />Denness was awarded an OBE (Order of British Empire) in this year’s New Years Honours for services to the game of cricket. </p>.<p>His reign as England captain was marred by a strained relationship with Geoffrey Boycott, then one of the team’s star performers. </p>.<p>During the 1974-75 tour of Australia, Denness dropped himself for the fourth Test after making just 65 runs in his first six innings <br /><br />But he returned to hit 188 in the Melbourne Test which, at the time, was the highest score by an England captain in Australia. <br /><br />Denness played county cricket for Kent and Essex, scoring more than 25,000 runs in his <br />first-class career and captaining Kent to six domestic trophies between 1972 and 1976. <br />During his time as an ICC match referee his controversial decision to sanction six Indian players in Port Elizabeth during the 2001/2002 tour prompted the Indian and South African boards to ban Denness from officiating in the next match. <br /><br />The ICC responded by withdrawing Test status from the game. <br /><br />Kent chairman George Kennedy said: “This is an extremely sad day for the club. We have lost one of our great players, a very successful captain and a good friend.<br />“It is particularly sad that this has happened during his year as president. Our thoughts are with Mike’s family and friends at this time.”</p>
<p>Former England captain Mike Denness died aged 72 on Friday after a long battle with cancer. </p>.<p>Denness was the only Scotsman ever to captain England, leading the team in 19 of his 28 Tests between 1969 and 1975. </p>.<p>He also played 12 one-day internationals and went onto become an ICC match referee. <br />Denness was awarded an OBE (Order of British Empire) in this year’s New Years Honours for services to the game of cricket. </p>.<p>His reign as England captain was marred by a strained relationship with Geoffrey Boycott, then one of the team’s star performers. </p>.<p>During the 1974-75 tour of Australia, Denness dropped himself for the fourth Test after making just 65 runs in his first six innings <br /><br />But he returned to hit 188 in the Melbourne Test which, at the time, was the highest score by an England captain in Australia. <br /><br />Denness played county cricket for Kent and Essex, scoring more than 25,000 runs in his <br />first-class career and captaining Kent to six domestic trophies between 1972 and 1976. <br />During his time as an ICC match referee his controversial decision to sanction six Indian players in Port Elizabeth during the 2001/2002 tour prompted the Indian and South African boards to ban Denness from officiating in the next match. <br /><br />The ICC responded by withdrawing Test status from the game. <br /><br />Kent chairman George Kennedy said: “This is an extremely sad day for the club. We have lost one of our great players, a very successful captain and a good friend.<br />“It is particularly sad that this has happened during his year as president. Our thoughts are with Mike’s family and friends at this time.”</p>