Lives in Cricket No 2 - Johnny Briggs

Stanley Jackson taking the score along to 24 for 0, close to half the total needed, before the first wicket went down. Sellers fell to the left-arm medium pace of William Oakley, while Jackson was run out. Thereafter it was very much a case of Yorkshire versus Briggs. But Briggs couldn’t bowl at both ends and Crosfield eventually took him out of the attack. However, with Yorkshire needing just six to win and their last pair at the crease, Crosfield brought Briggs back, although the Manchester Guardian of the day reported that it was Hornby who made the decision – Hornby, in fact, was missing from the Lancashire line-up. Perhaps the Guardian’s correspondent was overcome by the sheer excitement of the occasion. Crosfield had taken a calculated risk. Briggs placed his field carefully, waving Albert Ward to the boundary. Briggs was bowling to Yorkshire No.8 George Ulyett, a popular cricketer who had earned the nickname ‘Happy Jack’. The Tykes’ skipper, who played in goal for Sheffield Wednesday and on his retirement from sport became a publican in Sheffield after a short spell as a first-class umpire, favoured an attacking approach. Briggs knew that if he tossed one up, Ulyett would take the bait. Briggs also knew the risks in such a policy. Nevertheless he tempted Ulyett, shaping to bowl a slow delivery but finding an extra three or four yards of pace. The extra speed was enough to confuse Ulyett and although he appeared to get hold of it, he only succeeded in lofting it into the waiting hands of the reliable Ward, fielding on the fence. It was Briggs’ eleventh wicket of a remarkable match and, to the delight of the majority of the big crowd, Lancashire had sealed victory by six runs. The home crowd was happy enough, but it is said that afterwards Briggs sat ashen-faced in the dressing room, as the enormity of the gamble he had taken sank in. Despite this famous win, Lancashire had to settle for second place behind Yorkshire in the race for the title. At one stage they racked up six straight wins, but lost the final two matches, which cost them the championship. Yorkshire had set a furious pace, winning their first five games and from then on Lancashire were forced to play catch-up. With Watson dropping out of the side, Briggs and Mold were worked very hard indeed. Between them they bowled 1,662 of the 2,200 overs sent down by the county, and took 225 of the county’s 282 wickets in the competition; a remarkable 80 per cent of wickets to fall. In all games they matched each other wicket 58 Match double against Yorkshire