Dennis Amiss scored the first ODI hundred in history. He introduced the helmet to cricket. And he had a penchant for turning his hundreds into bigger hundreds (of his 11 Test centuries, eight went past 150). Excerpts from an exclusive interview Amiss gave The Hindu at the Edgbaston Golf Club in Birmingham:How did the idea of wearing a helmet while batting come up?
I first mentioned it to Tony Greig and said, ‘Look, you know, we are going to Australia, for Kerry Packer’s World Series Cricket. There are 16 bowlers who can all bowl at 90 miles an hour. Having been there with Lillee and Thomson, I think we need a bit of protection. I am at a helmet place at the moment. They might be able to provide us with helmets.’ I don’t remember how I came to be there. But I suddenly thought, my gosh, helmets for cricket!
Nobody had used helmets in cricket before that?
Well, Mike Brearley had his skullcap. But nobody wore a helmet.
So you were riding a bike when you saw this helmet shop?
