Lives in Cricket No 2 - Johnny Briggs

that one of Briggs’ ribs had been pushed up against a heart valve. It is said that he went home that night and told his wife: ‘This blow will kill me.’ Whatever the causes of his illness, it was felt that he was sufficiently recovered to be discharged seven and a half months later on 28 March, 1900. He was certainly well enough to play cricket for Lancashire again and, remarkably, take all ten wickets in Worcestershire’s first innings for 55 runs at Old Trafford in May. However, his health began to deteriorate again and he was re-admitted to the asylum almost a year after his first spell in hospital, on 8 March, 1901. Later that year – some five or six weeks before his eventual demise – it was reported that he had rallied after a serious relapse, but that was the last piece of good news to come out of the hospital about Briggs’ condition. At the time of his death he was just 39 years of age. It was a tragic end to an outstanding career. The Last Rites 7