Ole Henrik Mortensen (born 29 January 1958) is a Danish

first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is one of three or more days' scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officia ...

er, probably the best his country has produced. A

fast-medium Fast bowling (also referred to as pace bowling) is one of two main approaches to bowling in the sport of cricket, the other being spin bowling. Practitioners of pace bowling are usually known as ''fast'' bowlers, ''quicks'', or ''pacemen''. T ...

right-arm bowler, in a first-class career with

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southern end of the Pennine range of hills and part of the National Forest. It borders Greater Manchester to the nor ...

that ran from 1983 to 1994 he took 434 wickets at a good

average In ordinary language, an average is a single number taken as representative of a list of numbers, usually the sum of the numbers divided by how many numbers are in the list (the arithmetic mean). For example, the average of the numbers 2, 3, 4, 7 ...

of 23.88.

Playing career

He was 25 when he went to England to play cricket in 1983. He immediately established himself in the Derbyshire side and took 66 wickets at 24.31. ''

Wisden ''Wisden Cricketers' Almanack'', or simply ''Wisden'', colloquially the Bible of Cricket, is a cricket reference book published annually in the United Kingdom. The description "bible of cricket" was first used in the 1930s by Alec Waugh in a ...

'' that year described him as "accurate, hostile and, above all, a bowler of unquenchable spirit". It was his most successful season, and also included his best innings and match figures, when in his seventh first-class match he took 6 for 27 and 5 for 62 to help Derbyshire beat

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other English counties, functions have ...

by 22 runs at

Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire a ...

. In 1988 injury restricted him to 12 matches, but he topped the national first-class bowling averages with 34 wickets at 13.64. He was especially economical in one-day cricket, and in 1990, when Derbyshire won the

Refuge Assurance League The NatWest Pro40 League was a one-day cricket league for first-class cricket counties in England and Wales. It was inaugurated in 1999, but was essentially the old Sunday League retitled to reflect large numbers of matches being played on days o ...

40-over competition, he was the most economical bowler in the whole competition. In 1985 his first contract with Derbyshire expired. Carlsberg the Danish brewers attempted to sign him on behalf of

Northamptonshire Northamptonshire (; abbreviated Northants.) is a county in the East Midlands of England. In 2015, it had a population of 723,000. The county is administered by two unitary authorities: North Northamptonshire and West Northamptonshire. It is ...

(where they had their UK base) and offering to double their countryman's wage. "Stan", as his team-mates knew him, decided to stay at Derby because he "felt that we were going places under

Kim Barnett Kim John Barnett (born 17 July 1960) is a former English cricketer. Barnett was a batsman who played internationally for England between 1988 and 1989. He was primarily a batsman, but could also deploy effective leg spin, and topped the Engli ...

's leadership and sincerely believed we were going to win some trophies". His judgement was partially vindicated in 1993 when he helped the side win the Benson & Hedges Cup. He was a genuine

tail-ender In cricket, the batting order is the sequence in which batters play through their team's innings, there always being two batters taking part at any one time. All eleven players in a team are required to bat if the innings is completed (i.e., if ...

. The only time he exceeded 40 he made 74 not out against Yorkshire at Chesterfield in 1987, putting on 151 for the ninth wicket with

Reg Sharma Rajeshwar (Reg) Sharma (born 27 June 1962) is a former Kenyan cricketer who played first-class cricket for Derbyshire between 1985 and 1989. Sharma first played for the second XI of Kent, until 1983. He was drafted in as an emergency measure for ...

(who made his only first-class century). For

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark , establish ...

, Mortensen appeared in four ICC Trophy tournaments (

1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the '' International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the '' Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the so ...

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 **Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. **Spain and Portugal enter ...

1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of humanity on Earth, astrophysicist ...

and

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which sank in the Baltic Sea; Nelson ...

), claiming 63 wickets at a mere 10.41 apiece, including a return of 7–19 in a one-sided match against

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

(who were bowled out for 45) in

Nairobi Nairobi ( ) is the capital and largest city of Kenya. The name is derived from the Maasai phrase ''Enkare Nairobi'', which translates to "place of cool waters", a reference to the Nairobi River which flows through the city. The city proper h ...

in 1994. In 1989 he took an impressive 3-15 for Denmark in a limited-over match against a strong touring

Australian Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal A ...

side, his wickets including Mark Taylor, who had both just dominated

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

bowlers in a Test match series. Mortensen earned the nickname "Stan" while playing for Derbyshire, a reference to the famous

football player of the 1940s and 1950s,

Stan Mortensen Stanley Harding Mortensen (26 May 1921 – 22 May 1991) was an English professional footballer, most famous for his part in the 1953 FA Cup Final (subsequently known as the "Matthews Final"), in which he became the only player ever to score a ha ...

. He earned another nickname "Eric Bloodaxe" for his ability to swear in

Danish Danish may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark People * A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark * Culture of Denmark * Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish a ...

. This cricketing

Viking Vikings ; non, víkingr is the modern name given to seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded and se ...

was caricatured in 1994 by Pete Sellman. Mortensen played for Ellerslie Cricket Club in Auckland, New Zealand in the 1983/84 New Zealand season, helping Ellerslie win a club one day tournament at Eden Park. From the 1984/85 English off-season Mortensen played for Brighton Cricket Club in Melbourne, Australia, taking 401 wickets at 13.00. He represented Victoria against South Australia in a Christmas game which is an honour and probably his greatest achievement was to win the "R. M. Hatch Trophy" twice in 1986-87 and again in 1992–93. This trophy is awarded to the outstanding player in Sub-District cricket.

Coaching career

Danish national coach in cricket 1995–2000. German national coach 2002–2005. Norwegian national coach 2006–2010. Coaching Copenhagen Cricket Club (KB), Glostrup Cricket Club (Danish championship 2008 and 2011).

Life after cricket

Mortensen is a teacher in Denmark, specifically in Gladsaxe Skole

Notes

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mortensen, Ole Danish cricketers Derbyshire cricketers 1958 births Living people People from Vejle Municipality Danish cricket coaches Sportspeople from the Region of Southern Denmark