Former England and Derbyshire fast bowler Mike Hendrick has passed away at the age of 72 following a prolonged battle with bowel and liver cancer.
Born at Darley Dale in Derbyshire, Hendrick was introduced to the game by his father, a fast bowler himself. After playing for Leicestershire for almost two years, Mike Hendrick moved to Derbyshire, at 21. He joined Northamptonshire in 1982, and remained there for three years before raising curtains on his career.
Hendrick played a major role in England’s successive Ashes victory in 1977 and 1978/79. Initially ignored for the first two matches, Hendrick forced his way back into the team for the rest of the series after putting up extraordinary performances for Derbyshire.
In the fourth Test at Leeds, Hendrick and Ian Botham ran through Australia, sharing nine wickets and helping England enforce the follow-on. Hendrick finished the series with 14 wickets at an just over 20. Only Bob Willis took more wickets for England than him in that series.
In a subsequent Ashes tour to Australia, Hendrick picked up 19 wickets at 15.73. While not as quick as Botham or Willis, he was a workhorse who stuck to the right line and length, and never let the batsmen get off the hook.
Hendrick was also the leading wicket-taker in the ICC 1979 World Cup. His most memorable performance came against Pakistan in a Group stage of the competition. Chasing 165 to win, Pakistan were on 27/0, well on their way to a victory.
But Hendrick bagged three wickets in quick succession, removing Majid Khan, Sadiq Mohammad and Mudassar Nazar to reduce them to 28/3. Pakistan never recovered from the setbacks and went on to lose the game they had no business losing.
In the final against West Indies, Hendrick almost trapped Viv Richards leg-before, but the on-field umpire was not convinced. Later on, Richards flicked him for a six to finish the innings. That shot became a cult classic, with Richards proclaiming, ‘that shot is my invention’.
His international contract was suspended after he acquiesced to take part in the South African Rebel tour of 1981/82. He retired in 1985.