Lives in Cricket No 2 - Johnny Briggs

was being played mainly as a bowler and he had been relegated to No.8 or 9 in the batting order in first-class matches. However, in the Tests themselves, Briggs performances were decidedly low key. But despite his lacklustre efforts in the Tests, Briggs did manage to carve out another piece of cricketing history for himself when he appeared in the famous Smokers versus Non-Smokers match with the sides drawn from the Australian and England teams, at the little known East Melbourne ground in Victoria, which only ever hosted four first-class matches and was used mainly as a venue for Australian Rules football with its tenants being Essendon and University. The historic cricket match was a four-day eleven-a-side game which was admitted to the first-class records and Briggs’ claim to fame was that he became the first bowler to take a wicket when the opposition had 800 on the board when he caught and bowled Maidstone-born William Cooper with the total on 803. Johnny was never one to give up the ghost! With Barnes absent hurt, the Non-Smokers closed on 803 for 9. Another record had also been set a few runs earlier when the Non-Smokers became the first to reach 800 in first-class cricket. Briggs, a pipe smoker, did well with the bat, scoring 86 and 54 in his two innings. With the ball, Briggs worked equally hard, sending down 55.1 of his side’s 302 four-ball overs for a return of 4 for 144. The Smokers were forced to follow on, but held out for a draw with the Non-Smokers, rather surprisingly, running out of puff. With the score on 135 for 4, William Scotton blocked the last ball of the match and picked it up with the intention of keeping it as a souvenir, but the fielders appealed and Scotton was given out ‘handled the ball’. Coming of age as a cricketer 37 Briggs figures on two sets of cigarette cards produced by W.D. and H.O.Wills. The 1896 set, which features 50 players, is extremely rare and was retailing for £4,000 at the time of writing. A further set, also featuring 50 players, was issued in 1901 and sells for £1,000. There is, however, a reprint of the 1896 set, which retails for less than £50 framed. Unframed, the set can be bought for less than £10. Briggs was also featured twice on a set issued in 1901 by Ogden’s in the ‘Our Leading Cricketers’ series which was given away with their popular Tab cigarettes, which the company proudly proclaimed were ‘British made by British Labour’. In one card, Briggs is shown in a posed picture of his bowling action and in the other he is captured by the camera relaxing on a chair.