David Denton's golden fortnight
"Yorkshire’s stylist rolls back the years"
Our Treasurer Brian Sanderson delves into his latest purchase. This article first appeared on the ACS Cricket website on 02 April 2025.
Recently I purchased a 1913 Wisden, filling a long-lived lacuna in my library. Turning to the Yorkshire section—I always do that first—I noticed that in the preceding season David Denton had twice managed to improve on the highest score of his first-class career.
Denton’s is a name that in Yorkshire’s golden haze echoes like the strain of a familiar melody. He got his start for the county in 1894, and played eleven Test Matches for England. His nickname was “Lucky,” in token of how often he seemed to cash in after being dropped. He was an attractive stylist, occupying the top to middle order, right-handed and slightly built, at once quick on his feet and deft with the bat. He was also a brilliant outfielder, but by 1912, entering upon his twilight years, could no longer throw all the way from the boundary.
His great fortnight began on June 27 at Edgbaston, against Warwickshire. One imagines the gloom of the morning—a day so lacking in verve that Yorkshire’s opening partnership (Wilfred Rhodes and Benjamin Wilson), despite its surety, could not fully dispel the oppressive weight of the damp air. But when at length Rhodes departed for 52, Denton began his symphony. He shook off the desolation and gave the game a pulse; by lunchtime Yorkshire was 111 for one, our hero already on 38.He added 141 that day, despite a substantial stoppage for rain, and Yorkshire finished on 414 for three. Denton registered his openness to an overnight declaration, in order that Yorkshire might have more time to win the match, but Sir Archibald White, his captain, urged him to bat on until he had his double-ton. By the time he reached it he had batted four hours and ten minutes, hitting thirty fours (and, belying his monicker, had given only one chance—on 193). Yorkshire’s total, meanwhile, had swollen to 451 for four. With further rain, the match finished a draw.
July 4, 1912, was the 136th birthday of the United States of America. Much more importantly, as far as I’m concerned, it was Denton’s thirty-eighth. He marked it a week later with his second masterpiece, crafted under a kinder sun at Tunbridge Wells. Winning the toss for the third time in succession, Yorkshire elected to bat first, and Denton came in when Wilson was run out. By the end of the day he was 150 not out in a total of 331 for 3, batting with style and assurance (although he was dropped at 112 by Humphreys).
Next morning he conserved his energies in the hot sun, and drew some impatient barracking from the punters. But when, at 221, after four hours and three-quarters, with two sixes and 28 fours, he was finally bowled by Woolley, they cheered him to the rafters. Yorkshire went on to win the match by an innings and 45 runs. This was and would remain the highest score of Denton’s first-class career. His last six innings had amassed 727 runs for five times out, giving him an average of 145. By season’s end had collected 1,831 from 38 innings, and was perhaps the decisive factor in Yorkshire (despite suffering no fewer than nineteen unfinished matches out of 36!) winning the Championship for the first time since 1908.
He retired in 1920, with with 36,440 county runs to his name. His place in Yorkshire’s pantheon is assured: a cricketer who, while never a giant, could compose an innings in the grand tradition.
More information about the career of David Denton can be found here. David Denton (cricketer) - Wikipedia