In this memorable moment captured in 2019, Mike Procter (Newnham, 1964) is joined by his former captain, Ali Bacher, on a visit to Hilton College. Saddened by his death this weekend, we reflect on Procter's remarkable life by sharing an excerpt from the piece celebrating his cricket career in Hilton's 150th book:He was, simply, one of cricket’s greatest all-rounders, a genuinely fast bowler, a capable off-spinner, a hard-hitting middle-order batsman and an astute captain.
Mike Procter was a prodigious cricketer who dazzled. In his pomp, and before he was shackled by knee injuries, he bowled as quickly as anyone in the world.
Charging in off a long run, blond hair bouncing in the breeze, he delivered, chest-on, with the ball emerging from the late windmill flurry as if fired from a catapult. His action produced late in-swing and many leg-before decisions.
He was a commanding batsman, strong off the backfoot and a classic cover-driver. He could turn his hand to off-breaks on a wearing pitch, as he showed in taking nine for 71 in spinning Rhodesia to a Currie Cup win over Transvaal.
Procter was in the Keith Miller mould, on and off the field, enjoying the contest and the often-protracted dressing-room post-mortem which inevitably followed a day’s play.
He spent most of his 23 years of first-class cricket with Natal and Gloucestershire (“Proctershire”). His feats at the highest level would have been herculean had it not been for the sporting boycott which limited him to just seven Tests – all against Australia in two series wins – with a remarkable 41 wickets at 15 apiece.
The county season was often a daily grind but he kept performing, scoring over 1000 runs a season nine times and twice taking over 100 wickets.
Statistics say nothing about his style and appeal, but they do underline his match-winning ability. He took four first-class hat-tricks, two of them all leg-before in consecutive matches; he is the only player to twice take a hat-trick and score a century in the same match, and he hit six consecutive Currie Cup centuries, a world record, for Rhodesia in 1970-71.
Respected commentator Mark Nicholas described Procter as “colourful, swashbuckling and devastatingly good, an all-rounder to rank with any in history”.