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

17 reached the state of James M. Barrie, [author of Peter Pan] who declared that he could “bowl a ball so slow that if he did not like the look of it he could run after it and catch it. “The key difference was that Johnny Lawrence became a star bowler while Barrie had no claims to any cricket prowess outside his wonderful imagination – though he did organise and play in an amateur team for a number of years. This bewilderment and exasperation was never greater than for those batsmen who had to pit their wits against Johnny Lawrence at whatever level they might have been playing. One batsmen of repute – lured out of his ground – misses the ball and ends up flat on his back in a forlorn effort to get back in his crease before he is stumped. Another batsman missing such a slow delivery after literally running down the wicket to the bowler – knows his fate as soon as he misses the ball – and just keeps on running into the pavilion. Young batsmen are repeatedly warned by their elders about the folly. Eric Houseman – a promising, talented bat at the time who was playing for Harrogate against Leeds – had never seen Johnny or his bowling before and was tempted by the slow pace. Eric twice hit Johnny cleanly over the bowler’s head for four, each time being complimented by the bowler. Such compliments were exceedingly rare, and to the young Eric, hitherto unknown – out in the middle, during serious competition: but Eric’s elder batting partner at the other end was desperately urging caution on Eric. “Of course, I didn’t pay heed,” Eric told me. “Johnny slipped a quicker ball in, widish down the off side and at my third attempt at playing the same stroke I missed the ball and was a gratefully-accepted victim for Gordon Chadwick behind the stumps.” One young player, hoping for a successful first-class career, saw Johnny’s bowling from the sidelines while waiting to go in to bat and told everyone how keen he was to face – and cream – his bowling only to be quickly disabused An exceedingly slow bowler