OBITUARY : Denis Compton

Scyld Berry states in his obituary of Denis Compton [24 April] that the great contemporaries Hutton and Compton shared only one century stand in Test matches. Although fewer perhaps than might have been expected, there were five, writes J. K. Dishman. Against the West Indies at Lords (1939); Australia at Nottingham (1948); New Zealand at Leeds (1949); Australia at Lords (1953); and the West Indies at Georgetown (1953-54).

Berry also suggests that tough matches against the Australians were too much for Compton. In 1938, aged 19, he became the youngest player to score a century in his first Test against that country while in the next match he stayed in for four hours, saving the side from defeat. In the first two Ashes series after the war he scored over a thousand runs in 10 matches at an average of 57. After that his effectiveness was sadly reduced by damage to his knee.

Finally, it was Compton's second wife who came from South Africa, not his first.