At his peak, Dennis Amiss was one of the finest and most fearless players of fast bowling – both his Test double hundreds came against the West Indies. The right-handed England opener struck 11 centuries and averaged 46.30 in 50 Tests, which was proof enough of his pedigree, grit and determination.
Currently the president of Warwickshire County Cricket Club, where he was also the chief executive for 12 years, Amiss is a sprightly 82. His exploits as a batter aren’t trifling, but he will also be remembered as the first player to wear a helmet. It’s a legacy he is particularly proud of, for obvious reasons; he is especially delighted that his four grandkids can play the sport without fear of injury, thanks to granddad’s ‘invention’.
We were in Australia (in late 1974) against (Dennis) Lillee and (Jeff) Thomson, and they were pretty hostile.
“In Sydney, I talked to Len Hutton, who was a selector at the time. I said to him, ‘I know you didn't play in the Bodyline series alongside (Harold) Larwood and (Bill) Voce, but you must have seen it,’ and he said, ‘Yes, that's Bodyline, but this is Headline – they're aiming at heads.’
“I wondered if there was some protection for the head. I happened to be with a motorcycle helmet manufacturer one day and I said, ‘Could you design a helmet for cricket?’ and he said, ‘Not really. They’re (the motorcycle helmets) very heavy, very hot, but you could use this one, which had a plastic visor that takes a double-barrel shotgun from 10 paces.’ So I thought it would take a cricket ball from 22!
“I spoke about it to Tony Greig (the former England captain). We were going off to World Series Cricket – there were 18 fast bowlers who could all bowl at 90 miles an hour – and he spoke to Kerry Packer (the brain behind WSC). Kerry said, ‘More innovation, the better.’ So I took that motorcycle helmet to World Series Cricket. It was too heavy, too hot, so we revised them and we made the bars (grill), which made them lighter, then the side pieces. Gradually, they got better and better.
“Looking back now, we made the right decision, 100%, and my grandchildren, when I go down to see them, they've got their helmets on. They know I used them first. With the helmet, you felt safer, you felt that if you got hit on the head or the face, you knew there was protection. I don't think we should play any differently because of the helmet – that we should go in and try to hook every ball. But obviously, it gives you a bit of confidence, knowing that if you are hit, you're not going to be off the pitch – you could probably still carry on batting.”
The first of Amiss’ two double-hundreds came in Kingston, Jamaica, in February 1974, a monumental unbeaten 262 against Keith Boyce, Bernard Julien, Garry Sobers and Lance Gibbs. It helped England secure a draw after conceding a 230-run first-innings deficit.
“Fast bowling is never easy to play as a batter, but you get confidence through doing it, and they were good batting pitches, so that gave a lot of confidence as well. I got off to a great start and that helped – I got a bit of luck, I enjoyed batting there. When we went to Australia later that year, I didn’t get so much confidence because I got off to a bad start (7, 25 and 4 in my first three innings),” he remarked. “That was the difference.”
Amiss finished that series with ducks in his last three innings, including a pair in Adelaide.
He later earned the reputation of being an accomplished player of spin, but on the 1972-73 tour of India, he was dropped for the final Test in Bombay (as Mumbai was then called) after a string of low scores in the three preceding games.
“I couldn't get a run – (BS) Chandrasekhar was bowling me out,” Amiss recalled. “The practice wickets at the Brabourne Stadium were in the middle, so I couldn't practice, because as soon as the players playing the match finished their practice, the nets were taken down and the match started. One day, Bishan Bedi came up to me and asked, ‘Why are you not scoring runs against us? We thought we'd have a lot of problems against you.’ I said, ‘Chandrasekhar – he's different, I'm never quite sure what’s coming out of his hand. I've got to practice, because we're going to Pakistan for three Tests, but I’m not able to practice.’ He said, ‘Leave it with me.’
“Then Bishan came back and said, ‘I've organised a net for you. I'm going to bowl, (EAS) Prasanna's going to bowl, and (S) Venkataraghavan's going to bowl as well. We're going to simulate a Test match – but Chandrasekhar’s not going to bowl. We'll say when it’s out, when it’s not out.’ He got the groundsman to put the nets up, and they bowled at me for an hour. It was fantastic. He got chastised for it – helping somebody from the opposition – but brilliant.”
The offshoot? When England toured Pakistan in March 1973, Amiss scored 112 in Lahore, 158 in Hyderabad (Sind) and 99 in Karachi.
