Later Career
Underwood was almost unplayable on damp wickets, but on dry tracks he would often push the ball through a little quicker and flatter, not wanting to risk being hit over his head, which he always hated. Underwood, oddly, rarely completed a whole Test series for England, as a succession of England captains would switch to bigger turners of the ball, such as Norman Gifford.
He scored his first and only first-class century (111) at the age of 39, in his 591st first-class match. It was played at Hastings, a favourite bowling haunt for Underwood who, having gone in to bat as nightwatchman, finally reached the hundred mark in his 618th first-class innings. The cricket writer, Colin Bateman, noted, "there was no more popular century that summer".
Underwood slipped quietly into cricket retirement in 1987, a the age of 42, having snared 2,465 wickets at a little over 20 apiece.
Read more about this topic: Derek Underwood
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