Lives in Cricket No 2 - Johnny Briggs

‘dropped’ from a Test side since he first played for his country in 1884/85. His only previous absences were when he was unavailable through injury in 1890 and in 1891/92 when he didn’t play in South Africa because it clashed with a tour to Australia. But even without any competition from his fellow left-armer, Peel couldn’t continue the successful sequence at Lord’s, scoring only 12 runs and failing to take a single wicket. The upshot was that at The Oval he was replaced by Briggs, who seized his chance with both hands, taking five wickets in each innings as England romped to an innings victory. Briggs’ selection for the final Test – on his home ground – was a ‘given’. However, the issue of competition with Peel for the all-rounder’s slot did not arise as Yorkshire withheld the services of Peel, Jackson and Wainwright as they were still in contention for the county championship. Yorkshire were in clear breach of an agreement made by the counties in December 1892 that the counties would not keep players back in this way. Briggs again bowled well at Manchester, taking six wickets in a drawn match. In August 1893, Briggs was playing at Stourbridge for Lancashire Second XI against Worcestershire Second XI, then a second-class county, when he received a telegram telling him that his wife, Match double against Yorkshire 60 Double joy: Briggs with his beloved twins, John Hector and George