Lives in Cricket No 2 - Johnny Briggs

been anything so disappointing in connection with English cricket ...’ For Briggs, the tour was just as disappointing and was to provide a sad footnote to his Test touring career. His top score was 46 not out in the Second Test, during which the Australian batsman Charlie McLeod, who was deaf, was ‘bowled’. A no-ball was called, but McLeod unaware of the umpire’s shout, began to walk back to the pavilion. England wicket-keeper Bill Storer spotted that McLeod was out of his crease threw the stumps down and McLeod was adjudged run out! Never let it be said that poor sportsmanship is a modern malaise. McLeod made amends with 112 in the next Test as Australia completed the first innings win in Test history. That 46 apart, Briggs failed with the bat time and again. He batted in a variety of positions and was even tried as an opener in the Fourth Test at Melbourne where he didn’t let the side down altogether, scoring 23. He only reached double figures on four other occasions in first-class matches during the visit. But if his batting was poor, his bowling was virtually impotent. He took only nine wickets in the five Tests with his best figures of 3 for 96 in the second match of the series at Melbourne and ended with only 14 first-class wickets in total. He came in for plenty of stick, returning very uncharacteristic figures of 1 for 128 in the third Test at Adelaide and 2 for 98 and 1 for 101 against New South Wales at Sydney. He played in only eight first-class matches although he was neither ill nor injured, fewer games than all but Stoddart himself, who was sick for part of the tour. In the games Briggs missed, the reserve wicket-keeper Jack Board, was drafted in. Even in odds matches, where in the past Briggs would have been expected to cause mayhem against the less technically adept local batsmen, he was a failure, taking only 45 wickets with a best of 9 for 84 in an innings against a Bendigo XVIII. He didn’t play in the final two first-class matches as the tour wound down. It was clearly a tour too far for Briggs. Perhaps his almost non-stop schedule had caught up with him at last; Lancashire certainly didn’t spare him. Or perhaps he was just out of sorts for the duration of the tour. After all, he had been on five previous trips to Australia and maybe the novelty value had worn off. Who knows, but maybe Briggs’ singularly poor form may have resonated far beyond the boundary. In The Bulletin , a heavyweight Australian periodical, an article published on 18 March, 1898, opined: ‘This ruthless rout of English cricket will do – Bowling Lancashire to their first official title 75