Denton David Image 6 Yorkshire 1904

Description

Wakefield, Yorkshire born right-handed batsman David “Lucky” Denton showed promise as a teenager, scoring a half century in a Yorkshire Colts game in 1892. After three friendly (but nevertheless first class) matches for Yorkshire in 1894, he made his County Championship debut in Yorkshire’s final game of the season against Somerset, though he did not bat, bowl or take a catch. The following year, he scored useful runs against Cambridge University, carrying his bat for 77 not out, and also Lancashire, to establish his place in the side, and cementing a reputation as a superb fielder, especially in the deep and at third man, no one of his era chasing the ball at a greater speed, picking it up more cleanly or returning it more quickly. That year he made a thousand runs for the first time, only once thereafter (in 1898) failing to reach that landmark, scoring more than 2,000 runs in five summers during his career.

Possessed of very flexible wrists, Denton made strokes all round the wicket with considerable hitting power, while he played forward so hard that he always made the ball travel. On fast wickets he seized every opening to score on the off side, cutting in particularly brilliant fashion, and when the ground was slow he employed the pull and the hook with fine effect. The force of his strokes was surprising as he was below medium height and lightly built. He batted in exceptionally good style and never lost any time in getting to work. Going out for runs immediately he arrived at the wicket, he naturally gave many chances and was sometimes referred to as the luckiest of cricketers.

In 1905, Denton had a fantastic year, scoring 2,405 runs, earning himself Wisden Cricketer of the Year recognition in the 1906 Almanack. Injury to Archie MacLaren resulted in Denton’s elevation to the Test team in July 1905, to play against Australia at Headingley, Leeds, but he failed to make the most of his opportunity and was dismissed for 0 and 12, being dropped from the team immediately thereafter. He was recalled for the tour to South Africa that winter, and played in all five Tests. He made just one fifty in ten innings, and was again dropped from the side, but nevertheless played five more matches for England on a second and final tour of South Africa, in 1909-10. In the third Test at Johannesburg he made 104 at about a run a minute, but in no other innings did he even pass 30, and his England career came to a permanent end after 11 Tests with a batting average of 20.19.

He registered two separate hundreds in the same match three times: 107 and 109 against Nottinghamshire at Trent Bridge in 1906, 131 and 121 against the M.C.C. at Scarborough in 1908, and 139 and 138 against the Transvaal at Johannesburg for the English team which went out to South Africa in 1909-10. Denton figured in many Gentlemen and Players matches, and for the professionals he scored 157 not out at Scarborough in 1906. Twice he took part in a stand of more than three hundred runs, putting on 312 in company with George Hirst against Hampshire at Southampton in 1914 and 305 with J. W. Rothery against Derbyshire at Chesterfield in 1910. He was given a benefit in 1907, being the Yorkshire v. Lancashire match at Leeds, and the contest yielded nearly £2,000.

Denton continued to play with considerable success for Yorkshire until after the First World War, making his highest score of 221 against Kent at Tunbridge Wells in 1912, and scoring 209 not out against Worcestershire at Worcester as late as June 1920, just a month short of his 46th birthday. He retired at the end of that year, and though afflicted by ill-health for a time, recovered enough to stand as a first class umpire regularly from 1925 to 1930, and in occasional matches until 1937.

In the course of his career he scored 36,520 runs in 741 first-class matches with an average of 33.40, with 69 centuries and 187 half centuries. He also took 34 wickets at 28.91 apiece as a right-arm medium-fast bowler with a best of 5-42, his only five wicket performance. He also took 396 catches and made one stumping as an emergency wicket keeper.

His older brother, Joe Denton, also had a brief first class career with Yorkshire in 1887 and 1888.