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The loss of Boycott was practically a fatal blow to England's chances in the Ashes of 1974-5. England captains are judged on their performances against Australia, and Denness must have known he was in for a rough ride as his team faced up to the might of Dennis Lillee and Jeff Thomson in the Australian attack.
The tour turned into a nightmare for the visitors, with Thomson and Lillee wreaking havoc amongst the English batting – at one point in the series Denness even dropped himself for a match. However, the dependence of Australia on their two pacemen was shown in the final test, when both were injured and England won comfortably.
Denness came home to a none-too friendly reception from the press, and all eyes turned towards the next Ashes, which would be on home soil, to see if things would change for the better. The first test at Edgbaston was to show that if anything had changed in the past year, it was only that the Gods had joined Boycott, Lillee and the Australians to conspire against Denness.
England won the toss and put Australia in to bat, to which they replied with an impressive, but not unreachable 359. However, as England began their reply, a huge thunderstorm erupted, the wicket became a bowler's dream and England collapsed for 101 in their first innings, and only managed 173 in their follow on.
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Denness was not replaced by Boycott, but instead by Tony Greig. The Ashes series was marred by vandals destroying the wicket of the Third Test, resulting in its abandonment, and England went on to lose the series 1-0, with the other three played tests drawn.
Despite the controversy over his time as England captain, and the occasional controversy he causes as an ICC Referee, the facts of Mike Denness's career speak for themselves, with a phenomenal 25,886 career runs, four test centuries and a highly respectable test batting average of 39.69, Denness not only ranks as the greatest ever Scottish cricketer, but as one of the game's all-time greats.
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