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

222 In 1961 the young Boycott moved to Leeds from Barnsley and this certainly did the team no harm but Leeds were no more consistent as a team and from 1962 he started to play county matches too. It has been argued that Leeds – playing at Headingley – were increasingly subservient to the county club who wanted to bring a player such as Boycott on by having him play on a good wicket and under their eye but this may have hindered Leeds as a force in league cricket. Apart from Bolus who had left the club and Boycott, Leeds still had many of the same players in their side in 1962 and 1963 and still won a fair share of their matches but they had become yet more inconsistent and this explains why they were no longer contenders for the league title. Loss to eventual 1962 league winners Castleford on Bank Holiday Monday, August 7 and a rout by York on August 26 – Leeds all out for 40 – were examples of Leeds’s frailty. Johnny did well with the ball in all these years but even for example seven for 53 (and top score with 29) against Castleford on June 22, 1963 was not enough to prevent defeat by 52 runs. Wakefield 1964-66 1964 It wasn’t till the third match of the season that Johnny made his mark taking five for 19 on a wet pitch at College Grove on May 2, with Wood taking five for 30. Neither of them had made the ball turn a lot, the Express reported, but it was a case of ‘psychological treatment’ by these slow bowlers shattering the Sowerby Bridge batsmen who mustered 53 and lost by eight wickets. Then seven for 37 including three stumpings from White enabled a last over win against Ossett. Whitsuntide weekend followed with matches on May 16, 18 and 19 and ‘holiday wins’ took Wakefield to the top of the Central Yorkshire League table – much thanks to the ‘great form’ of Wilson and Lawrence. On the Monday, at home to Heckmondwike, Johnny bowled out from one end with 23 overs taking eight for 80 as the visitors reached 146 for nine but Johnny then scored 80 not out to enable a four wicket victory. Six for 46 at home to Thornhill and eight for 27 away to the same opposition in a cup match at the end of the month meant that Johnny had amazingly taken 45 wickets before the end of May. When Wakefield momentarily lost their position at the head of the table in early June due only to being thwarted by rain, their ensuing win at home to Hanging Heaton caused the Express to proclaim “Wakefield are back in their rightful position”. Johnny took a mere seven for 44 with ‘delightful cunning’ and ‘teasing the batsmen to breaking Appendix Two: Some of Johnny Lawrence’s league career in more detail