Lives in Cricket No 2 - Johnny Briggs

its 25 odds matches – often they simply found it beyond them to dismiss for a second time the seemingly never-ending stream of local batsmen paraded before them. But Briggs was clearly enjoying himself – as one would expect from a 22-year-old on his first trip abroad playing the game he loved – and on his return from the tour he was thought of as a fully-fledged international cricketer. Wisden ’s comment that ‘his dashing play fully warranted his inclusion in the team’ only served to enhance his standing. In the odds matches, Peel took 321 wickets at 4.22 with William Attewell, Barnes and Wilfred Flowers accounting for most of the other 450 wickets. Briggs bowled in only three matches taking 5 for 62 in 50 four-ball overs. As a batsman he scored 627 runs in 27 innings at an average of 25.08 and only three batsmen scored more in these matches. His highest score was 98 not out off what was described as ‘worn out bowling’. Briggs, never one to look a gift horse in the mouth, took full advantage of the poor quality of the opposition hitting six fives against Bendigo XVIII at Sandhurst, Victoria on Christmas Eve, when Shaw’s XI scored 576 for 6 declared, before dismissing their snail-like opposition for a tedious 82 in 81.2 overs. The first tour fixture began just two days after the party had disembarked at Port Adelaide and the visitors had little time to shake off their ‘sea legs’ before they were taking the field against XV of Adelaide. They got off to a winning start with a three-wicket success although they were far from impressive. There followed matches against XVIII of South Australia, Victoria at Melbourne, New South Wales at Sydney, XXII of Hawkesbury, XVIII of Cumberland and XXII of Clarence River before the first Test. Briggs played in the timeless match for Alfred Shaw’s XI against New South Wales at Sydney. Batting at eight, he had an inauspicious match, scoring 0 and 0 not out. Quite clearly it wasn’t his finest hour on a cricket field although Shaw’s team pulled off a four-wicket win. In the four-day match against Victoria at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, which began on 14 November, 1884, Briggs, again batting at No.8 for Shaw’s XI in both innings, made 33 (third highest score in the innings) and five. He had not established himself as a bowler, even in the Lancashire side, and was not called upon to turn his arm over. Briggs made his Test debut at the Adelaide Oval, where the side included Peel, also appearing in his first Test. Peel made a much more auspicious first appearance for England than his fellow Touring Australia for the first time 25