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

72 improve the wicket for the Kent match. Robin Lawrence, Johnny’s third child, recalls: “Although I may not have been much help, I remember at the age of nine helping to prepare that wicket at Bath.” Apparently, the simple recipe worked and it proved a much better wicket after day one – with a better result all round – especially for Somerset as Gimblett and Buse scored second innings centuries and Johnny chipped in with 65. Somerset were to win by 153 runs thanks to a brilliant performance by the young off- spinner Brian Langford who took 14 wickets in the match. Stephen remembers Johnny being effectively groundsman while he was at East Bierley and he was a close friend and ally of the groundsman at Honley, John Sanderson (known as Sandy) who played there alongside him. No doubt this was a theme throughout his whole career though it rarely gets mentioned in print. Of course his brother Sam was a groundsman – that we know of, at Perth, at Yorkshire Copperworks in Stourton and at North Leeds – and we can imagine the shared expertise of these two life-long collaborators. Johnny pursued his life goals vigorously – and non-stop. A man of his times who became a role model for other players Johnny at home at Westfield House sometime between 1968 and 1973 playing a Hammond organ.