Lives in Cricket No 52 - Schooled in Cricket (2nd edition)

98 telephone as convenient.” It has to be said that Johnny Lawrence – for all his accomplishments, and for all that he improved with age even during his first-class career – never reached the number one spot as the most effective leg-spinner who could have represented England in this time period. That honour must surely go to Doug Wright of Kent. R.O. (Roly) Jenkins was also a statistically more successful bowler and arguably so too may have been Eric Hollies who had famously bowled Bradman for nought in 1948. Jenkins – in a longer first-class career 14 times took over 100 wickets in a season – was at least on paper superior to Lawrence in bowling. Lawrence was competing well certainly by 1951 with Jenkins and Hollies who also had hugely prodigious careers and had played at the top level from further back in time – much further (since 1932) in the case of Hollies though he was a year younger than Johnny. Johnny’s batting was better than Hollies’ and he might have edged Hollies because of this. But this is yet a comparison of, as I’ve said, four star leg-spin bowlers all unavailable at this time to tour India. No more opportunities were to come their way – certainly not for Johnny! It was largely for family reasons that Johnny had to turn down this not–to-be-repeated opportunity. A fifth child (Dinah) was well on the way. And health and travel conditions in India at the time were quite hazardous – and it was in living memory that another Yorkshireman Roy Kilner had contracted enteritis and died as a result of such a tour. Johnny would not risk bringing back an infection which might affect his family. Eddie Leadbeater, who played for Yorkshire but was never quite a regular and was never capped by his county, was to fill the vacancy and go to India. He was, Ray Illingworth told me, a more than useful bowler but, for one thing, though he was a big spinner of the ball, he probably didn’t spin the ball anything like as much as Johnny. Incidentally Bob Appleyard who as the MCC telegram states was available for the tour and ironically he is perhaps A first class career with Somerset