Famous Cricketers No 87 - J.H.Wardle

JOHN HENRY WARDLE John Henry Wardle was born at Ardsley, near Barnsley, on 8th January 1923, the son of Jack and Jane Wardle. At the age of four the family moved to the village of Brampton to a house that overlooked the cricket field of the local colliery. As a youngster Johnny Wardle enjoyed fielding out on the ground on first- eleven practice nights. He was educated at Brampton Ellis School and, at the age of eleven, won a scholarship to go to Wath-on-Dearne Grammar School. At the age of fourteen, playing in a House Cup Final there, Wardle took eight wickets for 4 runs, an achievment that won him a bat signed by one of his boyhood heroes, Herbert Sutcliffe. He gained a place in the Brampton Colliery team playing for them in the South Yorkshire League and the Mexborough Evening League. At the age of fifteen he became a member of his school first eleven, topping the averages at both batting and bowling. He flirted briefly with the world of professional football, playing for the Wolverhampton Wanderers nursery team, Wath Wanderers, and appearing in some wartime matches for Wolves until he sustained a knee injury that threatened to disrupt his progress at cricket. On leaving school, Wardle took a job as an apprentice fitter at Hickton Main Colliery. One of his early cricket exploits was to take seven for 26 in nine overs for the collery team in a Yorkshire Council match against Thorncliffe. In 1940, at the age of seventeen, he returned to the Brampton team taking all ten wickets for 36 runs in a match against Rockingham and scoring a century, (104), against Mexborough. One of his early mentors was Colin Kilner, brother of Roy Kilner of Yorkshire and England, who was playing for the Mitchell Main Colliery Club. An important event in August 1943 was Wardle’s marriage to Edna Howson which took place at Wombwell Parish Church. The couple were to have two sons, Gerald and John. In 1942 he attended a Yorkshire cricket coaching session at Barnsley under the great George Hirst. In seasons 1943 and 1944 he played for Denlaby C.C. in the Yorkshire Council League taking 113 wickets in a season at an average of 7.85 to break a Yorkshire Council record previously held by Ellis Robinson. He was generally recognised as one of the most promising left-hand spinners in the country and when Yorkshire played their first friendly match with Lancashire at Old Trafford in 1945 he was chosen to play, although in the match, itself, the veteran left-hand spinner, Arthur Booth, was the bowling star taking eight wickets for 54 in Lancashire’s second innings. Wardle made his home debut in a friendly against Derbyshire at Bramall Lane and then, in 1946, played his first Championship match at Headingley against Worcestershire. Arthur Booth was first choice for the left-arm spinner spot in the Yorkshire team taking 111 wickets in the 1946 season at an average of only 11.61. In 1947, Booth was stricken with arthritis and unable to play. Wardle was not an automatic choice to replace him and had to compete for some time with another left-arm spinner, Arthur Mason. It was not until mid-June that he finally secured his place but, in the rest of the summer, he took 86 wickets at an average of 25.46. Among his best performances were six wickets for 28 runs against Surrey at Bradford and seven for 66 in Bill Bowes’ benefit match against Middlesex at Headingley. He was awarded his County cap and chosen to go on tour to the West Indies in the winter of 1947/48 with an official MCC team. The Cricketer commented: “ Wardle has improved rapidly and he bids fair to become a worthy successor to Yorkshire’s imposing line of slow left-arm bowlers”. A more chastening experience in 1947 was an appearance in the North v South match at Scarborough in 3