I saw him play in what I think was his debut (if not debut a very early game, he was no7 on the card) v Surrey at Blackheath. Unusually his test batting average is better than his overall batting average. RIP
We became aware that he was seriously ill when he missed the KCCC Supporters Club annual Christmas luncheon in 2011. He was the guest speaker and he was not the type to cancel because he had a common cold.
KCCC made him club president in 2012 (an annual and honorific office in which no one is allowed to serve for more than 12 months) because the club was aware that it was probably the last chance to honour him.
I knew him personally for more than 30 years and was once lucky enough to be presented by him with a 'bowler of the year' award at our club, with which he had close personal contacts. I was so excited that I celebrated the honour by drunkenly crashing my car into a wall afterwards, my award symbolically tumbling off the back seat and breaking in two as it hit the car's floor. But that's another story and it was at least a quarter of a century ago!
Mike was not an easy man in some ways. He was a controverisal character who divided opinion in Kent and was eventually sacked in acrimonious circumstances (are we allowed to say that, or is admin going to impose a Thatcher-style love-in?)
It was a bitter pill for many of us to see him ending his career at Essex - akin perhaps to Jimmy Seed going on to manage Millwall. But just as when Millwall come to the Valley we carefully avoid mentioning that their fans are housed in a stand named after one of their former managers, when Mike returned to Kent several years later as chairman of the cricket committee, his Esssex connections were diplomatically erased from Kentish memory.
Sadly his return in an adminstrative role was not entirely happy and he ended up resigning in a row about discipline within the playing squad that was more the fault of Andrew Symonds than Mike. But he again upset the Kent establishment who accused him of ''leaving the club in the lurch.''
That's why he his return to the Kent fold in what turned out to be the final year of his life was so sweet, with all past acrimony between him and the county he loved finally buried for good.
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I remember him as the captain of England, when we were getting skittled by Thomson & Lillee & also the WI.
It used to be a procession, I especially recall Keith Fletcher never seeming to bat for more than 5 mins.
Wicket keeper & about 5 slips & 2 gullies :-)
Ended his career playing for Essex.
Thanks for the memories.
RIP
RIP Mike. Fond memories of summer sundays at Canterbury/Maidstone/Folkestone watching that all conquering Kent team of the 70s.
Rest peacefully, Mike.
We became aware that he was seriously ill when he missed the KCCC Supporters Club annual Christmas luncheon in 2011. He was the guest speaker and he was not the type to cancel because he had a common cold.
KCCC made him club president in 2012 (an annual and honorific office in which no one is allowed to serve for more than 12 months) because the club was aware that it was probably the last chance to honour him.
I knew him personally for more than 30 years and was once lucky enough to be presented by him with a 'bowler of the year' award at our club, with which he had close personal contacts. I was so excited that I celebrated the honour by drunkenly crashing my car into a wall afterwards, my award symbolically tumbling off the back seat and breaking in two as it hit the car's floor. But that's another story and it was at least a quarter of a century ago!
Mike was not an easy man in some ways. He was a controverisal character who divided opinion in Kent and was eventually sacked in acrimonious circumstances (are we allowed to say that, or is admin going to impose a Thatcher-style love-in?)
It was a bitter pill for many of us to see him ending his career at Essex - akin perhaps to Jimmy Seed going on to manage Millwall. But just as when Millwall come to the Valley we carefully avoid mentioning that their fans are housed in a stand named after one of their former managers, when Mike returned to Kent several years later as chairman of the cricket committee, his Esssex connections were diplomatically erased from Kentish memory.
Sadly his return in an adminstrative role was not entirely happy and he ended up resigning in a row about discipline within the playing squad that was more the fault of Andrew Symonds than Mike. But he again upset the Kent establishment who accused him of ''leaving the club in the lurch.''
That's why he his return to the Kent fold in what turned out to be the final year of his life was so sweet, with all past acrimony between him and the county he loved finally buried for good.
RIP, Mike.
Another of my early sporting favourites gone.
RIP MHD.