There was a reason why his nickname was ‘Deadly’. Underwood was one of the finest spinners in the world during the 1960s and 70s.
Not a conventional left-arm spinner, Underwood was a master of varying his pace according to conditions and could bowl close to medium pace.
Underwood, who turns 71 today, was nearly unplayable on sticky wickets and his in-swinging arm ball was particularly notorious, getting many batsmen lbw.
In 86 Tests, Underwood snared 297 wickets with 17 five-wicket hauls.
His best effort with the ball came against Australia at the Oval in 1968. He took 7 for 50 in the second innings to clinch a remarkable win, scalping the last four Australian wickets in 27 balls in the final half an hour to square the series.
In 2009, Underwood was inducted into the ICC Hall of Fame.
Other sporting stars born on this day:
1976: Lindsay Davenport, American former tennis player who won three major titles (40).
1976: Kenji Johjima, Japanese former baseball player who was a catcher in MLB with the Seattle Mariners (40).
1983: Kim Clijsters, Belgian former tennis player who was world No1 in both singles and doubles (33).
1984: Javier Mascherano, Argentine footballer who plays for Barcelona as a midfielder (32).