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

149 Yet remarkably he himself beat that record the following season, 1973, when he took 119 wickets including eight for 29 on May 12 in a Sykes Cup tie six wicket home win over Emley Clarence. Emley were in the Huddersfield Central League which joined up with the Huddersfield League for this cup competition and came into this match as holders of the Central League championship and cup. This was his first bowling attempt of the season after three rained-off matches, in two of which, son Miles, had scored some runs before the rain came. In a midweek cup tie at the beginning of June, Johnny took eight for 44 at Broad Oak after Miles had scored 73 in a thumping win. On this occasion father and son headed the honours board for the whole round of the cup with Miles heading the batting and then Johnny the bowling. The Sykes Cup semi-final away to Kirkheaton was played in front of 1,400 spectators paying a record cup gate of £151 on Sunday, July 8. Honley made early inroads with Johnny with Frank Fisher but the unnamed Examiner reporter felt that he left himself on a bit too long and failed to bring Ian Helliwell or John Sanderson into the attack. Johnny, ‘never flagging’, finished with five for 79 but apart from Leslie Baxter (26), Honley’s batting disintegrated from start to finish against the swing bowling of Brian Stockton, and Honley were well beaten. Seven for 62 at home against Slaithwaite on July 14 was a typical brilliant effort by Johnny whose bowling was even sharper than in the previous season but his team were somewhere between poor and inconsistent and had suffered from bad weather and had still not had a full four point win by this date. Finally Honley won matches on August 11 and 18 and on the latter date Johnny took five for 38 to help beat Lascelles Hall and to become only the second Huddersfield League player to take 100 wickets in successive seasons. Against Golcar at home Johnny top-scored with 40 and then took six for 43 to earn some much needed points for Honley. Already just safe from relegation, Johnny helped his Seven more successful seasons in league cricket