Wrong foot legend

An all rounder who could have gave a new definition to the term all-rounder

Mike Procter, the South African all-rounder, had an international career that was cut short. He played only 7 Test matches (all of them against Australia at home), but they were enough to tell what he was capable of. He took 41 wickets at 15 and scored 226 runs.

He could have been in the same league as Botham, Hadlee, Imran and Kapil if he had played more Test cricket. He truly showed his capabilities at the First-class and List A level.

His record reads:

First-class: M: 401 R: 21936 Avg: 36 HS: 254 100/50: 48/109. W: 1417 Avg: 19.53 BBI: 9/71 5W/10W: 70/15

List A: M: 271 R: 6624 Avg: 27.94 HS: 154* 100/50: 5/36. W: 344 Avg: 18.76 BBI: 6/13 4W/5W: 10/7

Apart from South Africa, he represented Rhodesia (Now Zimbabwe), Natal, Orange Free State, Western Province and Gloucestershire.

He once hit centuries in 6 consecutive innings while playing for Rhodesia. A record held by Bradman and CB Fry.

He played 14 seasons for Gloucestershire, scoring over 14000 runs and taking 833 wickets. The media jokingly renamed the county as Proctershire.

While Sir Garry Sobers and Ravi Shastri were the first to hit six sixes off a single 6-ball over, Procter achieved a rare feat in county cricket by hitting six consecutive sixes off six balls across different overs. Off left-arm spinner Dennis Breakwell, he lofted the last two balls of an over for six, waited through a maiden over at the other end, and smashed the next four balls of Breakwell's following over for sixes.

In a 1977 First-Class match against Worcestershire, Procter achieved a rare all-round display: he scored a century before lunch with the bat and returned match-bowling figures of 13 for 73 with the ball.

After retiring from playing, he served as coach of the South African team that reached the semi-final of the 1992 World Cup.

He later became an ICC match referee in 2002. He served in the position until 2008. He was the match referee at the 2008 Sydney Test that was marked by numerous on-field controversies.

After stepping down as match referee, he became a selector of the South African team.

On 17th February 2024, the date that cricket fans celebrate as the birthday of another South African great, AB de Villiers, Mike Procter passed away at the age of 77 in Durban.

Had he played more international cricket, only God knows what he would have achieved and where he would have been when compared with the fellow all-rounders in that era. Despite this, he inspires a number of cricketers in South Africa and possibly Gloucestershire to become all-rounders.