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

207 claimed him as their own – in Yorkshire’s case as “the esteemed ambassador of the Yorkshire way of cricket” as H. East put it, writing in the Cricketer in May 1954 at the time of his benefit. The Somerset CCC committee remembered him with a minute’s standing before their business after his passing. Several of his tutees including Boycott as we have seen point out how ‘interesting and intelligible to youngsters’ as Boycott put it was Johnny’s gift when coaching. Boycott saw Johnny as a “kindly uncomplicated man with an enormous fund of knowledge and the paramount virtue – as far as coaching cricket is concerned – of endless patience.” John Callaghan (or his sub-editor!) described Johnny as a cricket legend. Callaghan said in an obituary in the Yorkshire Evening Post : “Not surprisingly, as he played on into his skilful 60s, Johnny’s age was a matter of debate and argument, but his knowledge gained universal acceptance.” To spoil this view slightly, there was no real argument – he had simply told a white lie about his age – which made him appear three years younger than he was. His date of birth is recorded on his birth certificate as 1911 and he is born already and recorded as such on the 1911 census. He is not the only player to have done so. There are many examples. Basil d’Oliviera for one stated that if someone claimed he was nearer to 40 when he first played for England at the apparent age of 35 he would not be suing them. Graham Twigg, the husband of Johnny’s second child Pauline likes to tell the story of when on Johnny’s invitation he attended a day of a Test match with his father-in-law. “Lunchtime came and John suggested we stretch our legs and walk round the ground. [This was in the days when the Headingley ground had a very wide track between the spectators and the playing field which created an air of informality at the ground.] We hadn’t covered ten yards before people were hailing him from everywhere and coming to shake his hand. He seemed to remember all their names and stopped to have a chat and reminisce. These Some appreciations of Johnny Lawrence