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

82 From the outset Johnny lived his Somerset summers with Mary and his very young family in a caravan which for the most part was stationed in Somerset’s headquarters at Taunton. His colleague John Harris showed me where this was stationed – to the far left of the car park as you go into the ground! Acclimatising to first-class cricket Somerset 1946-47 In the winter of 1945-6, with the impending resumption of first-class cricket after the war, Johnny sought to have the career that had been aborted by events in 1939. He first wrote to Yorkshire and it is minuted that the cricket committee decided – yes – to employ his talents if this was satisfactory with Somerset. Yorkshire – depleted due to the death of Verity and the scattering of such a successful side – now could make good use of Johnny Lawrence’s services. Much though he would have loved to have played for Yorkshire he eventually chose to play for Somerset for the reasons he stated but this choice included a loyal recognition of the retainer they had given him in the early war years and that he would have been offered a far more secure future there. Herbert Sutcliffe – who was besides a friend – was a strong advocate for Lawrence on the Yorkshire committee and recommended that Yorkshire pay off Somerset the amount of the retainers he had been paid in the early days of the war. That this never was put to the test was due to Johnny’s own about-turn which he explains in his notes: “I did well in the Bradford League matching myself against the first-class players. So much so that Yorkshire approached me, unofficially of course, to play for them. I had to write to Somerset and tell them my circumstances had changed and I would like to stay in Yorkshire. Two committee men helped me write the letter. That winter I was very uneasy for I had been looking forward so much to play for Somerset. In January 1946 my eldest son, Miles, aged six, was very ill; we stayed up every night in hospital for two weeks, we nearly lost him and he was very weak. This changed my mind about staying in Yorkshire and my A first class career with Somerset