Lives in Cricket No 2 - Johnny Briggs

fieldsmen have made their mark. For Lancashire he was one of the early links in a very long chain of notable cover points, starting with Vernon Royle and continuing down the decades with such great fielders as Eddie Paynter, Cyril Washbrook, Bob Barber, Clive Lloyd and Graeme Fowler. Unlike the towering and predatory Lloyd, Briggs was brilliant despite his lack of size and throughout the rest of that season he was picked, in the main, for his ability to save runs in the field. He didn’t play in Lancashire’s second match of the season against Derbyshire at Old Trafford but did appear in the third game at home to Kent. Batting at No 6 he scored 21 as Lancashire completed an innings win. He didn’t bowl in either Kent innings. In the away game against Derbyshire, he failed to score in either innings, being bowled twice and wasn’t asked to turn his arm over as Lancashire completed a four-wicket win. He wasn’t selected for the Roses match against Yorkshire, nor did he play against Gloucestershire, but he was back in the side for the match against MCC at Lord’s, where he was run out for ten in the first innings and suffered another duck in the second in a match MCC won by 32 runs. It was to be the final match of a fairly undistinguished first season for young Briggs, who appears to have been dropped from the championship side after Crossland and the Steel brothers, Allan and Douglas, became available at the beginning of July. It was a season when both Lillywhite publications, although not Wisden, asserted that Lancashire were joint county champions with Nottinghamshire. So Briggs, for the first time in his career, was part of a winning side. But despite his contribution, albeit a minor one, the Wisden of 1880 didn’t appear to be sure who Briggs was, listing him first as R.Briggs for the match at Lord’s and later simply referring to him as ‘ – Briggs’. One side-effect of his being dropped by Lancashire was that he was able to play more often for Northern and made 80 against Birkenhead Park before finally severing his connection with the Merseysiders at the end of that season. The opening game of the following season in 1880, against MCC at Lord’s, saw Briggs score 4 (run out) and 22 (second top-score) and he was back in the bowling attack although once again wicketless with 0 for 10 from five overs. He was to make 0 and 4 against Derbyshire and 13 and another 0 against Nottinghamshire. However, in the game against Yorkshire at Bramall Lane, Sheffield, he produced a remarkable bowling analysis of 11-10-4-0, proving his ability to pin batsmen down when given the opportunity. With 16 From Widnes to Old Trafford