Mike Page – A Tribute

Derbyshire County Cricket Club is deeply saddened by the news of the death of Mike Page, a leading member of the county side between 1964 and 1975.

Heritage Officer David Griffin looks back at the cricketing life of Mike Page.

Michael Harry Page was born in Blackpool on 17 June 1941 and much of his club cricket prior to joining Derbyshire was played at Hull Cricket Club where he was a heavy run scorer in the Yorkshire League and a more than useful off-spinner.

His family were from Hull originally and had relatives in Fleetwood and as a result of the heavy bombing on Humberside in the early part of World War II, they decided to move to the north west. By the time he was a year old, the family had returned to Hull, albeit too late for Page to be eligible to play for Yorkshire, who at that time had a strict policy of only selecting players born within the county to play for them.

When he had a trial with Warwickshire in 1960 he was still undergoing his apprenticeship as an instrument maker and so decided to complete his training before considering cricket as a career option.

He played a second eleven fixture for Lancashire in 1963 before both they and Yorkshire, as was the necessary convention at that time, gave permission for Derbyshire to consider him as a special registration player.

Meanwhile, Derbyshire’s coach, Denis Smith, a former Test batter and member of the 1936 Championship-winning side, travelled to Hull specifically to see Page play and left suitably impressed.

Page had already refused a one year contract with Lancashire and subsequently played two second eleven games for Derbyshire towards the end of the 1963 season and in late 1963 the MCC approved the registration and Page agreed a three year deal with Derbyshire.

He made his debut in early June against Worcestershire at Chesterfield scoring 25 in his sole innings and two games later he made an undefeated half century against the Australians at Derby.

He scored his first hundred, against Leicestershire at Chesterfield and his 112 was enough for the Derbyshire cricket committee to authorise the award of a County Cap. By the end of the 1964 season Page had scored 990 first class runs, the most runs ever by a Derbyshire player in a debut season.

At the end of his debut season, his captain, Charlie Lee, wrote: “Many promising youngsters fail to improve on auspicious beginnings, but Mike Page can, if he takes the game seriously and learns the lessons which are always there, bridge the gap between county and country.”

He was hugely entertaining, on and off the field, with a wide range of shots and the ability to dismantle county attacks, and while he never achieved Test status, he remained a fine county player. He averaged 39.88 in 1969 and 40.72 in 1970 – acceptable averages for batters today, but very good on the uncovered pitches of the era.

In 1973 he again averaged over 40 and in his final season of first class cricket passed one thousand runs once again, the seventh time he achieved this feat.

Meanwhile, in the field, and especially close to the wicket, he established himself as an outstanding catcher, ending his career with 249 in the first class game, the eighth most by a Derbyshire fielder.

An inveterate joker, he was the victim of one amusing incident during a game against Yorkshire at Chesterfield when the visitors declared with only half an hour left to play and Derbyshire decided to send in two nightwatchmen. Page elected to have a shower and when wickets fell quickly was called on to go out and bat. He walked to the middle without any socks on, one of his bootlaces untied, his pads on the wrong legs and wearing odd batting gloves and with water trickling down his face.

Mike Page was a regular attendee at the annual gathering of former players where he could be seen holding court with a glass of red wine and regaling everyone with amusing stories, but to those who saw him with a bat in his hand he was usually a joy to watch. He was elegant in defence or attack and an excellent player of spin, a pre-requisite for batting success on uncovered decks.

In Mike Carey’s ‘Farewell’ to Page in the Derbyshire Yearbook of 1976, he wrote that: “…in an era when the search has been on for middle-order batsmen of Test quality, Page often looked good enough and, indeed, would have been chosen regularly had the team been picked by his fellow professionals up and down the country.” – high praise.

Everyone connected with Derbyshire County Cricket Club would like to extend their condolence to Mike’s family and friends.