Lives in Cricket No 2 - Johnny Briggs

times, but more often than not, he gave up his wicket for too few runs. Lord Hawke, with whom Briggs had that celebrated spat during Briggs’ benefit match, fondly recalled Briggs many years after that incident, saying: ‘With a wicket to help him he could be a terror. He was a cheery, podgy soul, full of humour who perhaps played a little to the gallery, but never gave anything away.’ Digby Jephson, the Surrey captain between 1900 and 1902 and one of the last in a long line of lob bowlers, described Briggs bowling graphically: ‘The ball left his hand with a finger flick that you could hear in the pavilion, and here was every known variety of flight… the ball was at you, spinning like a top; first a balloon of a ball that would drop much farther off than you thought, a lower one on just the same spot, both breaking away like smoke; then another, with nothing on, straight at the sticks.’ His county captain A.N. ‘Monkey’ Hornby had a high opinion of his teammate. Contributing a piece about Lancashire in ‘The Jubilee Book of Cricket’ by K.S.Ranjitsinhji, published in August 1897, Hornby wrote of Briggs: ‘No better all-round man than Briggs, to sustain his form for so long, has ever represented us, and no one is known better all over the world. Very resourceful, he continues to maintain his position cleverly and there is plenty of cricket in him yet.’ Another cricketing great, C.B.Fry, wrote of Briggs: ‘Why, he beams on you before and after your innings. The shorter your innings, the happier he is towards you. He passes you a cheery time of day. He inquires with feeling after your health and form. He rubs the ball in the dust, takes two steps and serves you a fast yorker instead of the high-tossed slow you expected. You retire. He smiles. What could be pleasanter?’ Lancashire’s dressing room attendant W.E.Howard, who dealt with Briggs on a day to day basis, wrote of him: ‘Both on and off the field, Johnny was full of high spirits and energy; it seemed impossible for him to remain stationary for a few seconds at a time. He was a great favourite; his quaint antics on the field were a source of amusement to the spectators and I should say he attracted more people to Old Trafford than any player I could mention. Possessed of enormous agility and stamina, he would frequently, after a hard day in the field, stop on his way home and play cricket with the youngsters in the fields. Johnny was not only 90 What are we to make of him?