Майкл Проктер: Легенда южноафриканского крикета

South African cricketer (1946–2024)

Michael John Procter (15 September 1946 – 17 February 2024) was a South African cricketer, whose involvement in international cricket was limited by South Africa's banishment from world cricket in the 1970s and 1980s. A fast bowler and hard hitting batsman, he was regarded as one of South African cricket's top allrounders. Procter began his career mainly as a menacing fast bowler, who famously "bowled off the wrong foot", He rose to prominence as a frontline fast bowler in first class cricket, and went on to capture 1417 wickets across 401 first class matches, averaging a healthy 19.53, whereas he also showcased his prowess with the ball in List A cricket by picking up 344 wickets at an exceptional average of 18.76. Procter also gained a reputation for being an outstanding batter of his generation, becoming only one of three players to strike a record six consecutive centuries in first class cricket, alongside Don Bradman and C. B. Fry. Gloucestershire was affectionately nicknamed "Proctershire" when Procter played for Gloucestershire in English County cricket, due to his scoring over 20,000 runs and taking more than 1,000 wickets for the club. Procter was also one of only three players to score a century and take a hat trick in the same match while playing for Gloucestershire, and he remains the only player to complete the unique distinction twice for the club, having achieved it against Essex in 1972 and against Leicestershire in 1979. Educated at Hilton College, he played for Natal in the Nuffield week and for South African schools in 1963 and 1964. His brother, Anthony Procter, cousin A. C. Procter and father Woodrow Procter all played first class cricket. Procter married tennis player Maryna Godwin.

The ban on South Africa restricted his Test career to seven test match appearances, all against Australia between 1967 and 1970. He took 41 Test wickets at an average of 15.02, and with Barry Richards and Graeme Pollock helped South Africa to two successive series wins over Australia by margins of 3–1 and 4–0. Procter played for the Rest of the World versus England in 1970, and took 15 wickets at an average of 23.93 in five test format matches. In 1978–79, towards the end of his playing career, he played for the World XI in Kerry Packer's World Series Cricket in Australia. In the four "Supertests" in which he played he averaged 30.33 with the bat and 16.07 with the ball. He featured in the first semi final for World XI side and he shared the new ball with the likes of Imran Khan and John Snow. He clean bowled West Indian veteran Viv Richards with an unplayable delivery which he delivered from over the wicket. The delivery he bowled to Richards castled the middle stump out of the ground and it became a talking point at the time given the characteristic swagger of Richards. Procter also captained the Springbok team that played in three "tests" and three "one day internationals" against an English rebel XI, led by Graham Gooch, that toured South Africa in 1982. He revealed that he once came close to qualifying to play for the England national team in 1980, but his body was tired by the time such news apparently began to spread. However, he insisted that his callup to join England was merely speculation and was more of a ploy to allow Gloucestershire to sign another overseas player. He reached his record sixth successive century in first class cricket playing for Rhodesia against Western Province in 1971 and his century came at a vital time especially when Rhodesia was reeling at 5–2. He capitalized on a costly drop catch by Western Province captain Andre Bruyns, who was on slip, when Procter had only scored two runs, and went on to make the most of the dropped chance by scoring 254 runs, which also turned out to be his highest first class score. Rhodesia went onto win that match by seven wickets. He played for and captained South Africa in one unofficial "Test". The team was occasionally referred to in jest as "Proctershire". His chest on pace bowling lifted Gloucestershire to second in 1969 as he contributed more than 100 wickets for the club in the same season. Procter scored 109 not out in Gloucestershire's 135/3 in the 1972 John Player League – the lowest team total in List A cricket to include a century. He destroyed Worcestershire single handedly in 1977, scoring a century before lunch and taking 13 wickets for 73 runs. He scored another century before lunch in 1979, against Leicestershire, winning the Walter Lawrence Trophy for the season's fastest century, and then ripped through their batsmen with a hat trick. In the next game against Yorkshire he took another hat trick, all leg before wicket. In August 1979, he also famously smashed six successive sixes off the bowling of Somerset's Dennis Breakwell, albeit not in the same over. Mike Procter also produced a spell for the ages by grabbing everyone's attention capturing 4 wickets in 5 balls playing for Gloucestershire against Hampshire in a crucial semi final match during the 1977 Benson and Hedges Cup. He ripped through the top order of Hampshire's batting lineup which also included the prized scalps of his fellow South African Barry Richards and West Indian opener Gordon Greenidge. As captain, he led Gloucestershire to the Benson & Hedges Cup in 1977, as director of coaching he guided Northamptonshire CCC to victory in the 1989–90 NatWest Trophy final, His unusual action generated late inswing that, in the right conditions, could at times be unplayable. He bowled at high pace in his prime but later in his career knee problems caused by the impact of his bull like body on the bowling crease forced him to turn to off spin, which he mastered.

He also served as an international cricket commentator, and one of his most memorable moments as a commentator came during the epic semi final played between Australia and South Africa during the 1999 Cricket World Cup, which ended in a dramatic fashion with scores tied, albeit with a clumsy run of South African tailender Allan Donald. Procter and Bill Lawry were standing up in the commentary box during the critical juncture of the match when Procter exclaimed: "What kind of shot is that? First two deliveries of this over have gone bang, bang, four, four. Take that, scores are level".

Procter was involved in several controversial incidents in his career as a match referee. He refereed the forfeited Oval Test of August 2006 when Pakistan refused to take the field after tea in protest at the umpires' decision to penalise them for ball tampering. This decision was later overturned by Justice Hansen. At the first hearing Procter established that neither the umpire, nor Ricky Ponting, nor Sachin Tendulkar, who was closest to the incident, had heard anything. At the second hearing, however, Justice Hansen uncovered that Tendulkar heard the heated exchange between Andrew Symonds and Harbhajan including the exact Hindi phrase, and Ponting 'couldn't understand why Sachin didn't tell this to Mike Procter in the first place.' Procter had been criticised for his original decision and Sunil Gavaskar questioned whether his sympathies lay with the Australian team due to his race.

He was appointed chairman of selectors of South Africa men's national cricket team in December 2008 by Cricket South Africa. The entire selection board (including Procter's position as chairman of selectors) which was appointed in December 2008 was sacked by Cricket South Africa in 2010 following a poor string of performances from South African team in international cricket.

In 2014, Procter also set up a charity in South Africa by using his own name, the Mike Procter Foundation. The Mike Procter Foundation began focusing on transforming the lives of children through sports. Procter went on to register his charity in the UK in 2018 with the ambition of providing cricket coaching to underprivileged and vulnerable children.

On 12 February 2024, Proctor was admitted to the intensive care unit at Busamed Gateway Private Hospital in uMhlanga following a cardiac arrest. It was revealed that his health condition began to deteriorate and his situation became complicated during a routine surgery. He died in uMhlanga on 17 February 2024, at the age of 77, of cardiac arrest due to complications during heart surgery.

Gloucestershire revealed that the club's flag would be lowered to half mast as a mark of respect to Procter until the start of the County Championship season, which is scheduled to begin on 5 April 2024. His former teammate David Graveney at Gloucestershire revealed that Procter, throughout his playing career, played with great pain in his knee. Procter revealed that he admired former England captain Mike Brearley, especially for his captaincy skills. Later, Procter understood that Brearley himself considered Procter to be one of his favourite captains.