Return of controversy: The umpire strikes back

one remembers mike denness more for his freckles than anything else. among the many english touring sides that have played here, it's difficult to immediately recall another player with a more freckled face. last week though, denness gave indian fans a far greater reason to remember him. no referee had taken to task more than half a test side as denness did at port elizabeth.the indians were familiar with his ways. in the icc knockout tournament at nairobi in 1999, he had summoned the entire team and told them to clamp down on excessive appealing. denness was appointed icc match referee in 1995-96 and since then has officiated in 11 tests and 32 one-day internationals. his earlier punishments were much milder. south african star herschelle gibbs escaped with a reprimand on the south african tour of the west indies when he dissented with his dismissal in the second innings of the fourth test at antigua. in his playing days, denness' sole claim to fame was dropping himself from an england touring side in australia even though he was captain. he was one of the handful of players of scottish descent to make it big. he played in 28 tests, captained kent, and led the english team from 1974 to '75. on the indian tour in 1972-73, he played all five tests, scoring 257 runs at an average of 32.12. his best was a 76 at madras when he came out of the spin tangle set by our spinners. the hapless indians saw a different denness in england in 1974: he scored two successive hundreds, besides leading the team to victory by crushing margins in all three games. he also captained england in the 1975 world cup and, in the first match against india, his team ran up a total of 334 for four in 60 overs, winning the match by 202 runs. in all, denness captained england in 19 test matches, winning six and losing five. denness represented england from 1969 to 1975, scoring 1,667 runs at an average of 39.69, with four hundreds. in the county championship, he played for kent and essex. in a first-class career that lasted from 1959 to 1980, denness scored 25,886 runs at an average of 33.48 with 33 hundreds. under his captaincy, kent won the sunday league three times, the benson & hedges cup twice, and the gillette cup once. moving to essex in 1977, he played a significant role in the county's victory in two competitions in 1979. on retirement he dabbled in insurance, finance and public relations without much success. he coached essex second eleven from 1981 to 1984. but he came back to the kent fold as county chairman. denness turns 61 this december. after the recent furore, the icc will have to consider whether it is a wise thing to keep the old boys' club going in the form of match referees.