Lives in Cricket No 2 - Johnny Briggs

Chapter Five Coming of age as a cricketer ‘One has known dull days and dull cricket before the advent of Briggs, but he had just to show his face and a light passed over the field, and with it companionable warmth.’ Neville Cardus After his experiences on tour, the 1885 season saw a further improvement in Briggs’ batting average which had climbed to 27.64, with two centuries and two fifties for Lancashire. He achieved his highest score (186) against Surrey at Liverpool – a total he never bettered in his career – and ended the season with the second highest Lancashire aggregate of runs (578), beaten only by the bearded Richard Barlow, who totalled 698 for an average just in excess of 30. Bolton-born Barlow, later immortalised along with Hornby, in the poem ‘At Lord’s’ by Francis Thompson, which ended with the line, ‘Oh my Hornby and my Barlow long ago’, played 17 Tests for England, scoring 591 runs and taking 34 wickets. He was the first great Lancashire professional, spending 21 seasons at Old Trafford, amassing 11,217 runs (average 20.61) and taking 951 wickets (at 14.50). He was a dogged opener and scored the then slowest half century in county cricket against Kent at Maidstone in 1889, taking 290 minutes to reach 50. In his innings of five not out against Nottinghamshire at Trent Bridge, Barlow remained scoreless for 80 minutes. Always a difficult man to dislodge, he carried his bat through an innings on no fewer than 11 occasions. He was also more than useful with the ball in hand, achieving the hat-trick three times for Lancashire and once for the Players versus the Gentlemen at The Oval in 1884. Barlow is also responsible for the saying ‘I take my hat off to you’ becoming part of the language. It happened in 1884 when the North of England played the Australians on a poor wicket at Trent Bridge. Barlow, who had opened the batting and bowling at both county and Test level, had a marvellous all-round match, scoring a century and taking 10 wickets. 29