Mike Procter (1946-2024)

[ecc]

One of the best all-rounders in my time of watching cricket. Very short Test career due to Apartheid but a superb performer for Gloucestershire for many years.

RIP

[DAVETHEVICAR]

Yes top top player.
Played for Gloucester in the amazing game at Old Trafford , when I was fortunate to be there and David Hughes was smashing the ball to all parts of the ground off spinner John Mortimer whilst Skipper Jackie Bond stayed at the other end facing a very very quick Proctor in the appalling light.
Hughes said “ if I can seem em I will hit them “
RIP Mike

[Buxtonclaret]

R.I.P Mike.
Great player from my younger days.

[Buxtonclaret]

Yes top top player.
Played for Gloucester in the amazing game at Old Trafford , when I was fortunate to be there and David Hughes was smashing the ball to all parts of the ground off spinner John Mortimer whilst Skipper Jackie Bond stayed at the other end facing a very very quick Proctor in the appalling light.
Hughes said “ if I can seem em I will hit them “
RIP Mike

Remember Jack clipping the winning run in that iconic David Hughs over!
Once spoke to him about it while he was landlord of a pub near me!

[Rumpelstiltskin]

R.I.P Mike Procter. Very exciting player.Batting or Bowling.

[ClaretTony]

Wonderful cricketer

[FCBurnley]

Some player. Imagine him playing in today’s cricket ! RIP

[ClaretTony]

Remember Jack clipping the winning run in that iconic David Hughs over!
Once spoke to him about it while he was landlord of a pub near me!

I was away on holiday at the time but I’ve seen it so many times on tv. Did Yosser hit 24 off that over to leave us needing one to win? I remember the footage of Jack Bond, our great captain, waving his bat around trying to get people off the pitch so we could finish it.

So sad today to hear of Proctor’s death.

[evensteadiereddie]

I was at the game with my dad, the last time we went to a Lancashire game together before his death.
Not a bad way to finish, I suppose, and what a sensational day.
It's a shame we didn't see Procter in the Lancashire League - can you imagine!

[Quicknick]

Superb cricketer. Very sad. RIP

[beeholeclaret]

Great player, very competitive man from what I remember. RIP

[Silkyskills1]

One of many world class all rounders of that era. Didn't he bowl 'off the wrong foot'? Am sure he planted his right foot down on delivering with his right arm. RIP.

[Buxtonclaret]

I was away on holiday at the time but I’ve seen it so many times on tv. Did Yosser hit 24 off that over to leave us needing one to win? I remember the footage of Jack Bond, our great captain, waving his bat around trying to get people off the pitch so we could finish it.

So sad today to hear of Proctor’s death.

He did. Couple of sixes. Couple of 4s. Can't recall the exact order. But he left Jack to hit a single though, in the gloom.
The most epic of several one-day epics back then.

[Culmclaret]

Very dangerous fast bowler who also bowled very respectable off spin. A very aggressive bat. Barry Richards, Graeme Pollock, Eddie Barlow and Mike Proctor: all world class.

[Vino blanco]

I was also at that famous match played in the dark at Old Trafford: it was also the last cricket match I went on with my late dad. Proctor was a fabulous all rounder in an era of very, very good players all round the world. RIP to a fabulous cricketer and entertainer.

[bodge]

Very reminiscent of Shoaib Akhtar's run up, it was really exciting to watch with the batsman often visibly cacking it at the other end as Proctor raced in.

[IanMcL]

The South African team excluded owing to Apartheid, was very good. He was an important part of that exceptional team.

[Longford Claret]

Procter was probably the best allrounder in the world when South Africa exited test cricket. He had 20 odd test wickets in the final series v Australia at 13 each in 1970. He averaged 48 with the bat and 23 with the ball for Rest of the world v England in 1970 in a series that was classed as official at the time. He hit six successive first class centuries, a joint world record, scored a century and took a hatrick in the same game twice. He hit 5 sixes off an over of Ashley Mallett when Australia toured South Africa in 1970 and hit a 6 off 6 successive balls for Gloucestershire in the county championship. In all tests he had picked up 41 test wickets at 15 each , then 8 years after his last test he came back to average 16 in WSC against the likes of Greg Chappell, Clive Lloyd, Viv Richards, Gordon Greenidge etc. Mike was quite a player.

[LeadBelly]

Procter was probably the best allrounder in the world when South Africa exited test cricket. He had 20 odd test wickets in the final series v Australia at 13 each in 1970. He averaged 48 with the bat and 23 with the ball for Rest of the world v England in 1970 in a series that was classed as official at the time. He hit six successive first class centuries, a joint world record, scored a century and took a hatrick in the same game twice. He hit 5 sixes off an over of Ashley Mallett when Australia toured South Africa in 1970 and hit a 6 off 6 successive balls for Gloucestershire in the county championship. In all tests he had picked up 41 test wickets at 15 each , then 8 years after his last test he came back to average 16 in WSC against the likes of Greg Chappell, Clive Lloyd, Viv Richards, Gordon Greenidge etc. Mike was quite a player.

That nails how good he was. There's a fairly comprehensive obit in the Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2024/ ... r-obituary

R.I.P. Mike Proctor.