South African cricketer Mike Procter, who has died aged 77 following complications from surgery, was one of the game’s best all-rounders. He could match the leading players of his era, from Garry Sobers at the beginning of his career to Ian Botham, Imran Khan, Richard Hadlee and Kapil Dev towards the end of his career.
The only difference was that Procter could show his prowess in just seven Test matches for South Africa, while the others had 500 Test matches between them. But no one who played cricket at the time has any doubt that Procter belonged to such a company.
In those seven Tests in 1967-70, all against the Australians, who arguably considered themselves the best team in the world at the time, Procter took 41 wickets and also hinted at the majesty of his batting; he was on the winning side six times, drawing one match.
Subsequently, as a result of apartheid, South Africa was excluded from world cricket for over two decades; The first of these coincided with Procter’s peak as a cricketer. He was initially disappointed and angry that he could no longer play at the highest level, but later he began to see the bigger picture. He would say in later life: “What is a Test career compared to the great suffering of 40 million people?”
Procter’s frustrations may have been tempered by his lack of concern for personal statistics. Many cricketers feel obliged to say this without really meaning it, but in Procter’s case it was the truth. He played the game with a charming knightly freedom, bowling fast, batting aggressively and also living life to the fullest when the stumps were drawn. The numbers can take care of themselves.
But these figures are still quite staggering: 21,936 first-class runs at an average of 36.01 and 1,417 wickets at 19.53 apiece; Rhodesia now has six consecutive first-class hundred hat-tricks for Zimbabwe, a feat he shares with CB Fry and Don Bradman, with four hat-tricks in first-class cricket and an appearance in South Africa’s Currie Cup competition. So Procter had to content himself with playing non-international cricket from 1970 onwards. In Southern Africa this was predominantly the case for Natal and Rhodesia; he also excelled in five “Tests” against England in 1970 and brief stints for the Rest of the World in Kerry Packer’s breakaway World Series Cricket in Australia in 1977-78. For 14 seasons from 1968, he played for Gloucestershire, soon to be known as “Proctershire”. In the Bristol county service he was regarded with the same admiration as WG Grace, Gilbert Jessop and Wally Hammond.
Born in Durban, Mike was the son of Lorraine and Woodrow Procter, who played in the Eastern Region against the England/MCC tourists in 1938-39. At Highbury prep school and Hilton college Mike was an outstanding game player. Originally a batsman/wicketkeeper, he was persuaded by his coach John Saunders to take up bowling. He was vice-captain of the South African schools team that toured England in 1963; Barry Richards was the captain.
Two years later the pair played one season in Gloucestershire’s second XI; Procter topped the batting averages and Richards the bowling averages, and they were allowed one first-team appearance against the tourists that summer. So the two youngsters from Natal held Gloucestershire’s innings together with a 116-run partnership against South Africa.
In 1968 overseas players were allowed to grace the English game and Gloucestershire immediately signed Procter and Richards left for Hampshire. By then Procter had become a Test cricketer, tormenting the Australian batsmen on the 1967 tour; He would be joined by Richards in the South African side in 1970, as the magnitude of Australia’s defeats became even greater.
Procter would have guaranteed a place in the team as a batsman, but at this stage of his career it was his bowling that made his skipper keen and opponents looking for extra cover. Then came the exile. Although Procter was preoccupied with domestic cricket, he relished the challenge with a gusto that Richards sometimes overlooked; Richards would eventually struggle to hide his boredom at the prospect of another humdrum county match.
His innate competitiveness and the buzz of the Bristol dressing room meant he never looked lacking in motivation. His barnstorming play led Gloucestershire to the two-day cup and he captained the county for five seasons from 1977.
He was an unorthodox pacer, charging into the crease of the pitch before appearing to strike off the wrong foot – though this was never the case. His chest was open and he relied on quick arm movement for his speed. He was not shy about bowling bouncers and could easily scare the more reserved batsmen in the innings.
Occasionally he would bowl in the breaks to give them relief, but even then he could dominate. I once experienced that feeling of relief when I faced him through the breaks for Somerset at Bristol, whereupon he took a bouncer two steps back. I proudly hooked the ball towards the square leg boundary before falling to my stumps and the batting wicket was dismissed.
As his career progressed, his capacity to swing the ball to late right-handed hitters was often as devastating as his speed. These four hat-tricks in first-class cricket often included a series lbw against stunned opponents. The one-day semi-final at Southampton in 1977, in which he removed the top four Hampshire batsmen in five balls (with two lbws) while bowling around the wicket, will still be available to watch on YouTube.
Young Mark Nicholas was working the scoreboard that day and remembered how the next batsman, Nigel Cowley, had also been poor in his first over, but once again umpire Tommy Spencer did not dare lift his finger.
Unlike Procter’s bowling, his batting was based on classical orthodoxy, but there was little obstruction. He once hit Dennis Breakwell of Somerset for six sixes in a row (though not at the same time). Instinctively, he preferred the aggressive option, which was not as commonplace in the 1970s as it is today. At that time, very few batsmen could hit the ball that hard.
Procter remained interested in cricket after his retirement, but it was always a struggle to meet the excitement of playing the game. He briefly served as director of cricket for Northamptonshire before being parachuted in as coach of the South African national team, which suddenly returned from the wilderness in 1992.
As the International Cricket Council (ICC) match referee, he had the misfortune of being in charge of the 2006 Oval Test when Pakistan refused to take to the field following allegations of ball tampering. More damaging to his umpiring career was the ban of Indian spinner Harbhajan Singh for allegedly racially abusing Andrew Symonds in Sydney in 2008; This decision was overturned after appeal.
He later became the man to bring together the South African selectors, but the job lasted less than two years, after which he devoted much of his energy to the Mike Procter Foundation, a charity supporting poor and underprivileged children in Durban.
In 1969, he married tennis player Maryna Godwin, who had reached the quarterfinals of the US Open the previous year. He is survived by his children Greg, Jessica and Tammy.
• Michael John Procter, cricketer, born 15 September 1946; Died February 17, 2024