<br /> <div class="img-caption-wrap "> <img alt="Mike Denness passes away after lengthy battle with cancer" src="http://st2.cricketcountry.com/wp-content/uploads/cricket/image_20130419204555.jpg" title="Mike Denness passes away after lengthy battle with cancer" /> <p class="imgcaptionnew" style="width:618px;"> Mike Denness was 72 © Getty Images</p> </div> <strong>London: Apr 19, 2013 </strong><br /> <br /> Former <a href="/tags/England/post" target="_blank">England </a>captain and ICC match referee<a href="/tags/Mike-Denness/post" target="_blank"> Mike Denness</a> passed away on Friday after a lengthy battle with cancer. He was 72.<br /> <br /> Denness played 28 Test matches and 12 One-Day Internationals (ODIs) for England in a career spanning over 22 years.<br /> <br /> He was captain in 19 of his 28 Test matches and once held the record of highest invidividual score by an England skipper in Australia, scoring 188 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.<br /> <br /> He famously dropped himself for the fourth Ashes Test in Sydney during the 1974-75 tour.<br /> <br /> Denness was the only Scotsman to have played international cricket for England, and was also awarded an OBE in the New Year’s Honours list for services to cricket, <em>Eurosport </em>reported.<br /> <br /> Denness will also be remembered for the controversy during India's tour of South Africa in 2001-09, when he sanctioned six Indian cricketers including Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and Virender Sehwag.<br /> <br /> It caused a huge furore which led to both India and South Africa barring him from officiating in the next match.
