Dennis’ early enthusiasm for cricket came via his father Vic, who played cricket for The Birmingham Co-Op and Harps. Having been successful in the 1st X1 at Oldknow School, Dennis was offered a contract by Warwickshire CCC, where in his early years he played for the Warwickshire Club & Ground and Smethwick CC in The Birmingham League. Both Derief Taylor and EJ (Tiger) Smith, WCCC Coaches at the time played an integral part in his development to county level and beyond.
Birmingham born and bred Dennis who was recently honoured with a Star on the Birmingham Walk of Stars, played cricket for both Warwickshire County Cricket Club and England. He was a brilliant stroke maker particularly through extra cover and midwicket. He was an accomplished batsman in all forms of the game. His first class average was 42.86, 35.06 in List A matches, 46.30 in Test Matches and 47.72 in One Day internationals, scoring 102 centuries in first class cricket.
After retiring as a player in 1987, Dennis served Warwickshire County Cricket Club as Chairman of the Cricket Committee and was Chief Executive from 1994 until 2006. Dennis was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Birmingham in the summer of 2007 and until recently served as Deputy Chairman of the English and Welsh Cricket Board (ECB). He is also a trustee of the Warwickshire Cricket Board’s Youth Trust.
Dennis made his Test Match debut for England in the Fifth Test Match of the 1966 series with West Indies, and he proved to be an accomplished Test Match batsman. In scoring 3612 Test runs, Dennis made eleven half-centuries and eleven centuries including two double hundreds both against the West Indies. Of his eleven Test Match hundreds, eight exceeded 150, a higher proportion even than the legendry Don Bradman. His highest Test Match score, also his highest first class score was 262 not out against the West Indies in the 1973-74 Kingston Test Match, an innings that saved the game for England after they had conceded a first inning lead of 230. The next highest score in the England innings was 38. His second Test Match double hundred was 203 in the first innings of the final Test Match at The Oval in 1976.
Dennis was also a handy One Day International batsman scoring 859 runs, including four centuries and one half-century with a top score of 137 against India, which is still the highest individual score for England in the Cricket World Cup. He also has the distinction of scoring the first ever one-day international century, 103 in only the second ever one-day international in 1972.
He was selected as one of the five Wisden cricketers of the Year in 1975. Dennis was also the initiator of protective headgear for batsmen, which was both an innovative and revolutionary concept at the time. An innovation that has saved many batsmen from serious injury over the years.
In all forms of cricket, Dennis scored 60,413 runs including 301 fifties and 132 centuries. He also took 548 catches and 20 wickets, with a best bowling performance of 3 for 21. His first class cricketing career for Warwickshire CCC lasted 27 years from 1960 when he made his debut until 1987, having joined the county in 1958 straight from school.