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

106 as a good friend – I am sure that with friendship not lacking in cricket circles Eric Hill would have done also – but Hill had a slightly less forgiving nature. 1954 – benefit year “Lawrence was awarded a benefit match by Somerset for the 1954 season, and though the match itself was spoilt by rain, the benefit fund eventually reached £3,000. This was despite the fact that, as a strict Methodist, Lawrence refused to allow any Sunday matches to be arranged for his benefit. He also forbade any raffles to be organised for his benefit.” Though I have described Johnny as an inherently Yorkshire character despite his first-class exile, this view is not without contention. In an appreciation written by former playing colleague Eric Hill in the Somerset yearbook of 1953-4, Hill attests: “His cricket was not of Yorkshire but was more of the surprises that can be the inherent delight of a truly Somerset man.” Certainly he was capable of many paradoxical performances and this had – besides his excellence at the sport and his jovial personality – over the years, won him over to the Somerset cricket fans. I can see Hill’s point of view and there are certainly two sides to this argument. In 1954, Johnny responded to the call to do well in his benefit season by making 929 runs and taking 93 wickets, nearer to the elusive double than in any other season apart from 1950. Moreover, the cost of the wickets fell significantly, to 20.66 runs per wicket. For the third consecutive year, he was Somerset’s leading wicket-taker. These were the days before pension funds or insurance policies for professional sportsmen and a benefit was the only financial assurance a professional cricketer with a family could expect to provide serious remuneration. Matters did not start to slowly improve until after the foundation of a trade union in 1967 which became the Professional Cricketers’ Association. His time as a serious income earner from his sport was A first class career with Somerset