Lives in Cricket No 2 - Johnny Briggs

Cairo and the Pyramids in the company of man whose name has subsequently become a byword for travel, Thomas Cook. The latter had come to Egypt to see the Khedive, who was at that time the governor and monarch of Egypt, with the country still under Ottoman rule. Cook was trying to arrange tours up the Nile for his then fledgling travel company. The scheduled stop at Naples had been cancelled because of an outbreak of cholera in the port city. The SS Orient was owned by the Orient Steam Navigation Company and was completed in 1879. Constructed of iron with two funnels and four masts, which were rigged for sail, she was at the time – 5 June, 1879 – the largest steamer to have rolled off the slipway at the Clyde shipyard, where she had been built by John Elder of Glasgow. Five months later the 5,386-ton vessel set off from London on her maiden voyage to Melbourne and Sydney via the Cape of Good Hope, returning through the Suez Canal. The Orient could accommodate 120 first-class, 130 second-class and 300 steerage class passengers. She could carry 1,500 when transformed into a troop ship during the Boer War five years after she had transported Briggs and his colleagues to and from Australia. Briggs was making his first trip abroad when he set sail on board the Orient and was reported to have suffered badly from sea-sickness during the 41-day voyage. The driving forces behind the tour – Shaw, Shrewsbury and Lillywhite, respectively team manager, captain and umpire – had relied heavily on John Conway, who was that rare and dangerous combination of fast bowler and journalist. Conway, who lived in Victoria and organised most of the itinerary and fixtures, was a reliable ‘agent’, having set up previous tours. With so few in the tour party and with Shaw having to return to England in February Touring Australia for the first time 23 Briggs was accident-prone. In addition to breaking an arm playing rugby for Widnes, he also cut his eyebrow playing hockey and crashed into a tram while cycling home from Old Trafford. He also sprained his right ankle when called for a quick single by Hornby in a match against Yorkshire and was out of action for several weeks. In Australia it is well documented that his pipe rammed into the roof of his mouth when a horse unseated him. In another equestrian incident in Australia he was thrown when dismounting and almost flung over the edge of a precipice. He was also struck under the heart by a blow from Surrey batsman Tom Hayward in a match at Old Trafford three weeks before the fateful Headingley Test.