Background
Denning was born in the village of Chewton Mendip in Somerset, where his father was the butcher.
Denning was born in the village of Chewton Mendip in Somerset, where his father was the butcher.
He was educated at Millfield, where he was captain of cricket and also played tennis, rugby and football. He later studied at Street Luke"s College, Exeter (now part of the University of Exeter), and qualified as a teacher.
He was known to Somerset cricket fans as "Dasher" due to his "pace over the ground", and he was also known for an unorthodox stroke called the "Chewton carve" or "Chewton chop", a stroke that cut the ball away between the slips and the covers. Denning was a left-handed top order (often opening) batsman and scored 1,000 runs in a season on six occasions. He made his first-class cricket debut for Somerset against Glamorgan in June 1969.
He joined Somerset when they were struggling.
However, Somerset later became a strong one-day side with Brian Close as captain and a team containing three world-class players in Viv Richards, Ian Botham and Joel Garner. He was awarded his Somerset cap in 1973.
He made his top score, 184, against Nottinghamshire at Trent Bridge. He hit two centuries in the match against Gloucestershire in 1977, and his 145 in a one-day game against Glamorgan in 1978.
His most prolific year came in 1979, when he made 1,222 runs at a batting average of 42.13.
Denning was a good limited overs player having the ability to run quick singles. Denning retired in 1984 after suffering problems with a cartilage and became a grain merchant in Somerset. Denning died of cancer in Taunton in 2007.
He was hard, stubborn and made it difficult for the opposition – especially when he growled at them.
His sad death is a tremendous loss to Somerset cricket.".