Johnny Lawrence
Encyclopedia
John Lawrence, known as "Johnny", was a diminutive Yorkshire
-born all-round
cricket
er whose middle or lower order batting and leg-break and googly
bowling were of great importance to Somerset
in the 10 cricket seasons immediately after the Second World War.
, on 29 March 1911, Lawrence made his name in the Bradford Cricket League
in the 1930s, but was not able to break into the strong Yorkshire
side, though he played Second Eleven cricket at Minor Counties level. He qualified by residence to play for Somerset at the end of 1939 but then had to wait until after World War II
before making his debut, by which time he was 35 years old.
Short and enthusiastic, Lawrence was a pugnacious batsman who, according to one account, "could on occasions bat with irremovable resolve". As a bowler, in the description of the cricket writer Alan Gibson
, Lawrence was "one of the slowest bowlers I have ever seen. There were times when he would deliberately bowl slower and slower, until he almost reached the state of Sir James Barrie, 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."
runs and taking 66 wickets. The wickets were fewer and more expensive in 1947, but he took his first five-wicket haul in an innings with six for 53 against Hampshire
at Weston-super-Mare
. At the end of the 1947 season, though a Somerset player, he was picked for the North team in the regular North v South match at Harrogate
.
The 1948 season saw the start of Lawrence's best bowling years, though his batting fell away. His aggregate of wickets rose from 45 in 1947 to 82, and the bowling average fell from more than 36 runs per wicket to just 22. His two best bowling performances came against Yorkshire, with six for 29 in the match at Harrogate followed by six for 35 in the return match at Taunton. At the end of the season, he played for an England XI in a match at Cardiff Arms Park
to celebrate Glamorgan
's first County Championship
, the only non-Test
player in the side. But that and the North v South match the previous year remained the extent of his representative cricket.
In 1949, he took 100 wickets for the first time, finishing with 107 at a bowling average of 22.73, but his batting declined even further and he finished without a single 50 to his name all season and with a batting average of less than 14 runs per innings. His eight for 63 in an innings against Hampshire at Portsmouth
was the best return of his career so far. But he bettered that performance and his wickets tally the following season, 1950. Against Worcestershire
at Worcester
, he took eight for 41 on a rain-affected pitch, and these remained the best bowling figures of his career. They contributed to a total of 115 wickets which was not only his highest season aggregate but also, with a bowling average of 18.90, the best season's figures of his career. Moreover, in 1950 his batting form returned and he scored 981 runs, the nearest he came in his career to the all-rounder's "double" of 1,000 runs and 100 wickets in an English cricket season.
A contributory factor in his bowling success was his understanding with the Somerset wicketkeeper, Harold Stephenson
. Somerset's cricket historian described it thus: "The prodigious leg-break would beat the bat and 'Steve' would knock off the bails with the merest flick. The glee on Lawrence's face as an exasperated batsman pounded forward and missed..."
In 1951, he scored 1,000 runs in a season for the first time, reaching 1067 at an average of less than 21. The following year, 1952, his average rose to 25 on the back of a lot of not-out innings, and he missed the 1,000 runs. But in this season he scored the first two centuries of his career. His first was an unbeaten 103 against the Indians
at Taunton, when he batted at No 9 and shared a ninth-wicket partnership of 133 with William Dean
, whose only first-class match this was. It was the 306th innings of Lawrence's first-class career, and two months later, again batting at No 9, he followed it with a second century, 111, made against Essex
at Taunton. He was Somerset's leading wicket-taker too in 1952, but his 78 wickets cost 30.45 runs each.
The bowling return in 1953 was similar, with 70 wickets at 31.77, and the weakness in Somerset's batting rather than any advance in Lawrence's skills led to him being used further up the batting order than in other seasons, even, for a period, opening the innings alongside the long-standing opener Harold Gimblett
. He passed 1,000 runs for the season again, though he averaged marginally less than 20 runs an innings.
Lawrence was awarded a benefit match
by Somerset in 1954, and though the match itself was spoilt by rain, the benefit fund eventually reached £3,000. This was despite the fact that, as a strict Methodist, Lawrence refused to allow any Sunday matches to be arranged for his benefit. He also forbade any raffles to be organised for his benefit. In the 1954 cricket season itself, Lawrence responded by making 929 runs and taking 93 wickets, nearer to the elusive double than in any other season apart from 1950. Moreover, the cost of the wickets fell significantly, to 20.66 runs per wicket. For the third consecutive year, he was Somerset's leading wicket-taker.
The 1955 season saw the start of a transition in the Somerset side, and the reliance on Lawrence lessened. He still took more than 70 wickets with his leg-spin, and his batting aggregate, at 1128, was his highest for a season. When he made 122 in a second innings follow-on that saved the match for Somerset against Worcestershire at Worcester, he made the highest score of his entire first-class career. Yet within a month, he had asked to be released from his county contract and he left the Somerset staff at the end of the season.
and Bill Alley
, both of whom had been playing Lancashire League cricket. Lawrence went in the other direction: he left Somerset after the 1955 season and took up a contract to be the professional at Haslingden Cricket Club
for 1956. Haslingden finished at the bottom of the league that season and Lawrence did not return for the 1957 season.
In 1958, he started playing Minor Counties cricket for Lincolnshire
and stayed with the side for 10 years, playing his final match for the side at the age of 56 in 1967. The year before, 1966, Lincolnshire qualified for the Gillette Cup List A competition, where the team played Hampshire in a first round match at Southampton
that ran into a second day. Lawrence bowled seven overs without taking a wicket and made 2 not out as his side lost by 31 runs.
While playing for Lincolnshire, Lawrence resumed his career in the Bradford Cricket League, and he also ran indoor cricket schools in Yorkshire at Lordswood and Rothwell, where among the cricketers he coached was Geoffrey Boycott
.
He died at Toulston near Tadcaster
on 10 December 1988, aged 77.
, also a right-handed batsman and leg-break bowler, played 18 first-class matches for Somerset between 1959 and 1961. A younger son, Stephen, played Minor Counties cricket for Cheshire
.
noted that Lawrence was a "cheerful" cricketer. The history of Somerset cricket put it at greater length: "His cheerful disposition was much to the liking of the dressing-room occupants, though his non-conformist attitudes, including his much-voiced disapproval of what is quaintly called industrial language, could be a little too inhibiting for those with a bent for freewheeling linguistics at the end of an unrewarding afternoon in the sun."
Another admirer wrote: "He was a jolly, kindly man, and perhaps the biggest contribution he made to Somerset cricket was his laughter and comradeship in the dressing room, at a time when things were generally going wrong."
Yorkshire
Yorkshire is a historic county of northern England and the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its great size in comparison to other English counties, functions have been increasingly undertaken over time by its subdivisions, which have also been subject to periodic reform...
-born all-round
All-rounder
An all-rounder is a cricketer who regularly performs well at both batting and bowling. Although all bowlers must bat and quite a few batsmen do bowl occasionally, most players are skilled in only one of the two disciplines and are considered specialists...
cricket
Cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...
er whose middle or lower order batting and leg-break and googly
Googly
In cricket, a googly is a type of delivery bowled by a right-arm leg spin bowler. It is occasionally referred to as a Bosie , an eponym in honour of its inventor Bernard Bosanquet.- Explanation :...
bowling were of great importance to Somerset
Somerset County Cricket Club
Somerset County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Somerset...
in the 10 cricket seasons immediately after the Second World War.
Early career and playing style
Born at Carlton, LeedsLeeds
Leeds is a city and metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. In 2001 Leeds' main urban subdivision had a population of 443,247, while the entire city has a population of 798,800 , making it the 30th-most populous city in the European Union.Leeds is the cultural, financial and commercial...
, on 29 March 1911, Lawrence made his name in the Bradford Cricket League
Bradford Cricket League
The Bradford Cricket League is an amateur cricket competition centred in Bradford, West Yorkshire...
in the 1930s, but was not able to break into the strong Yorkshire
Yorkshire County Cricket Club
Yorkshire County Cricket Club represents the historic county of Yorkshire as one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure....
side, though he played Second Eleven cricket at Minor Counties level. He qualified by residence to play for Somerset at the end of 1939 but then had to wait until after World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
before making his debut, by which time he was 35 years old.
Short and enthusiastic, Lawrence was a pugnacious batsman who, according to one account, "could on occasions bat with irremovable resolve". As a bowler, in the description of the cricket writer Alan Gibson
Alan Gibson
Norman Alan Stanley Gibson was an English journalist, writer and radio broadcaster, best known for his work in connection with cricket, though he also sometimes covered football and rugby union...
, Lawrence was "one of the slowest bowlers I have ever seen. There were times when he would deliberately bowl slower and slower, until he almost reached the state of Sir James Barrie, 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."
First-class cricketer
Lawrence was an instant success in Somerset's 1946 side, winning his county cap in his first season, scoring 968 first-classFirst-class cricket
First-class cricket is a class of cricket that consists of matches of three or more days' scheduled duration, that are between two sides of eleven players and are officially adjudged first-class by virtue of the standard of the competing teams...
runs and taking 66 wickets. The wickets were fewer and more expensive in 1947, but he took his first five-wicket haul in an innings with six for 53 against Hampshire
Hampshire County Cricket Club
Hampshire County Cricket Club represents the historic county of Hampshire in cricket's County Championship. The club was founded in 1863 as a successor to the Hampshire county cricket teams and has played at the Antelope Ground from then until 1885, before moving to the County Ground where it...
at Weston-super-Mare
Weston-super-Mare Cricket Club
Weston-super-Mare Cricket Club is an amateur cricket club based in the town of Weston-super-Mare, Somerset, England. Since the clubs formation in 1845, they have nurtured a number of players who have gone on to play for Somerset County Cricket Club and a select few who have gone on to play for the...
. At the end of the 1947 season, though a Somerset player, he was picked for the North team in the regular North v South match at Harrogate
Harrogate
Harrogate is a spa town in North Yorkshire, England. The town is a tourist destination and its visitor attractions include its spa waters, RHS Harlow Carr gardens, and Betty's Tea Rooms. From the town one can explore the nearby Yorkshire Dales national park. Harrogate originated in the 17th...
.
The 1948 season saw the start of Lawrence's best bowling years, though his batting fell away. His aggregate of wickets rose from 45 in 1947 to 82, and the bowling average fell from more than 36 runs per wicket to just 22. His two best bowling performances came against Yorkshire, with six for 29 in the match at Harrogate followed by six for 35 in the return match at Taunton. At the end of the season, he played for an England XI in a match at Cardiff Arms Park
Cardiff Arms Park
Cardiff Arms Park , also known as The Arms Park, is primarily known as a rugby union stadium, but it also has a bowling green, and is situated in the centre of Cardiff, Wales. The Arms Park was host to the British Empire and Commonwealth Games in 1958, and hosted four games in the 1991 Rugby World...
to celebrate Glamorgan
Glamorgan County Cricket Club
Glamorgan County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh national cricket structure, representing the historic county of Glamorgan aka Glamorganshire . Glamorgan CCC is the only Welsh first-class cricket club. Glamorgan CCC have won the English County...
's first County Championship
County Championship
The County Championship is the domestic first-class cricket competition in England and Wales...
, the only non-Test
Test cricket
Test cricket is the longest form of the sport of cricket. Test matches are played between national representative teams with "Test status", as determined by the International Cricket Council , with four innings played between two teams of 11 players over a period of up to a maximum five days...
player in the side. But that and the North v South match the previous year remained the extent of his representative cricket.
In 1949, he took 100 wickets for the first time, finishing with 107 at a bowling average of 22.73, but his batting declined even further and he finished without a single 50 to his name all season and with a batting average of less than 14 runs per innings. His eight for 63 in an innings against Hampshire at Portsmouth
Portsmouth
Portsmouth is the second largest city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire on the south coast of England. Portsmouth is notable for being the United Kingdom's only island city; it is located mainly on Portsea Island...
was the best return of his career so far. But he bettered that performance and his wickets tally the following season, 1950. Against Worcestershire
Worcestershire County Cricket Club
Worcestershire County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Worcestershire...
at Worcester
Worcester
The City of Worcester, commonly known as Worcester, , is a city and county town of Worcestershire in the West Midlands of England. Worcester is situated some southwest of Birmingham and north of Gloucester, and has an approximate population of 94,000 people. The River Severn runs through the...
, he took eight for 41 on a rain-affected pitch, and these remained the best bowling figures of his career. They contributed to a total of 115 wickets which was not only his highest season aggregate but also, with a bowling average of 18.90, the best season's figures of his career. Moreover, in 1950 his batting form returned and he scored 981 runs, the nearest he came in his career to the all-rounder's "double" of 1,000 runs and 100 wickets in an English cricket season.
A contributory factor in his bowling success was his understanding with the Somerset wicketkeeper, Harold Stephenson
Harold Stephenson
Harold William Stephenson was an English first-class cricketer who played for Somerset. He captained Somerset from 1960 until his retirement in 1964....
. Somerset's cricket historian described it thus: "The prodigious leg-break would beat the bat and 'Steve' would knock off the bails with the merest flick. The glee on Lawrence's face as an exasperated batsman pounded forward and missed..."
Senior professional
Lawrence turned 40 in March 1951 and over the remaining five years of his first-class career there was a subtle change in his role as a Somerset cricketer. Reliable throughout for 70 or more wickets a season, he never passed 100 again, though he got close with 93 in 1954. But his batting continued to develop and was increasingly important in a side whose frailties in every department consigned it to the foot of the County Championship for four consecutive seasons from 1952 to 1955. He was also a fine slip fielder.In 1951, he scored 1,000 runs in a season for the first time, reaching 1067 at an average of less than 21. The following year, 1952, his average rose to 25 on the back of a lot of not-out innings, and he missed the 1,000 runs. But in this season he scored the first two centuries of his career. His first was an unbeaten 103 against the Indians
Indian cricket team in England in 1952
The Indian cricket team toured England in the 1952 season. The team played four Test matches, losing three of them and drawing the other one. In all first-class matches, they played 29, winning four and losing five, with the rest drawn.-The Indian team:...
at Taunton, when he batted at No 9 and shared a ninth-wicket partnership of 133 with William Dean
William Dean (cricketer)
William Henry Dean was a cricketer who played one first-class match for Somerset in 1952.Dean was a right-handed batsman and a right-arm fast-medium bowler. Along with fellow Yorkshireman Malcolm Walker, he was picked by Somerset for the match against the touring Indian side at the County Ground,...
, whose only first-class match this was. It was the 306th innings of Lawrence's first-class career, and two months later, again batting at No 9, he followed it with a second century, 111, made against Essex
Essex County Cricket Club
Essex County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh national cricket structure, representing the historic county of Essex. Its limited overs team is called the Essex Eagles, their team colours this season are blue.The club plays most of its home games...
at Taunton. He was Somerset's leading wicket-taker too in 1952, but his 78 wickets cost 30.45 runs each.
The bowling return in 1953 was similar, with 70 wickets at 31.77, and the weakness in Somerset's batting rather than any advance in Lawrence's skills led to him being used further up the batting order than in other seasons, even, for a period, opening the innings alongside the long-standing opener Harold Gimblett
Harold Gimblett
Harold Gimblett was a cricketer who played for Somerset and England. He was known for his fast scoring as an opening batsman and for the much-repeated story of his debut...
. He passed 1,000 runs for the season again, though he averaged marginally less than 20 runs an innings.
Lawrence was awarded a benefit match
Benefit (sports)
A benefit or testimonial is a match or season of activities granted by a sporting body to a loyal sportsman to boost their income before retirement. Often this is in the form of a match for which all the ticket proceeds are given to the player in question.There have been occasions when a...
by Somerset in 1954, and though the match itself was spoilt by rain, the benefit fund eventually reached £3,000. This was despite the fact that, as a strict Methodist, Lawrence refused to allow any Sunday matches to be arranged for his benefit. He also forbade any raffles to be organised for his benefit. In the 1954 cricket season itself, Lawrence responded by making 929 runs and taking 93 wickets, nearer to the elusive double than in any other season apart from 1950. Moreover, the cost of the wickets fell significantly, to 20.66 runs per wicket. For the third consecutive year, he was Somerset's leading wicket-taker.
The 1955 season saw the start of a transition in the Somerset side, and the reliance on Lawrence lessened. He still took more than 70 wickets with his leg-spin, and his batting aggregate, at 1128, was his highest for a season. When he made 122 in a second innings follow-on that saved the match for Somerset against Worcestershire at Worcester, he made the highest score of his entire first-class career. Yet within a month, he had asked to be released from his county contract and he left the Somerset staff at the end of the season.
After county cricket
As part of its programme to revive after four years at the foot of the County Championship, Somerset had been looking far and wide for new players, and among the arrivals in the next couple of seasons were the Australians Colin McCoolColin McCool
Colin Leslie McCool was an Australian cricketer who played in 14 Tests from 1946 to 1950. McCool, born in Paddington, New South Wales, was an all-rounder who bowled leg spin and googlies with a round arm action and as a lower order batsman was regarded as effective square of the wicket and against...
and Bill Alley
Bill Alley
William Edward Alley was a cricketer who played 400 first-class matches for New South Wales, Somerset and a Commonwealth XI....
, both of whom had been playing Lancashire League cricket. Lawrence went in the other direction: he left Somerset after the 1955 season and took up a contract to be the professional at Haslingden Cricket Club
Haslingden Cricket Club
Haslingden Cricket Club is a cricket club in the Lancashire League, which plays its home games at Bentgate in Haslingden. For the 2011 season its captain is Graham Knowles, and its professional is former Ramsbottom amateur Phil Hayes of England. The club has won the league on 12 occasions and the...
for 1956. Haslingden finished at the bottom of the league that season and Lawrence did not return for the 1957 season.
In 1958, he started playing Minor Counties cricket for Lincolnshire
Lincolnshire County Cricket Club
Lincolnshire County Cricket Club is one of the county clubs, which make up the Minor Counties in the English domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Lincolnshire and playing in the Minor Counties Championship and the MCCA Knockout Trophy...
and stayed with the side for 10 years, playing his final match for the side at the age of 56 in 1967. The year before, 1966, Lincolnshire qualified for the Gillette Cup List A competition, where the team played Hampshire in a first round match at Southampton
Southampton
Southampton is the largest city in the county of Hampshire on the south coast of England, and is situated south-west of London and north-west of Portsmouth. Southampton is a major port and the closest city to the New Forest...
that ran into a second day. Lawrence bowled seven overs without taking a wicket and made 2 not out as his side lost by 31 runs.
While playing for Lincolnshire, Lawrence resumed his career in the Bradford Cricket League, and he also ran indoor cricket schools in Yorkshire at Lordswood and Rothwell, where among the cricketers he coached was Geoffrey Boycott
Geoffrey Boycott
Geoffrey Boycott OBE is a former Yorkshire and England cricketer. In a prolific and sometimes controversial playing career from 1962 to 1986, Boycott established himself as one of England's most successful opening batsmen...
.
He died at Toulston near Tadcaster
Tadcaster
Tadcaster is a market town and civil parish in the Selby district of North Yorkshire, England. Lying on the Great North Road approximately east of Leeds and west of York. It is the last town on the River Wharfe before it joins the River Ouse about downstream...
on 10 December 1988, aged 77.
Family
Lawrence's son, Miles LawrenceMiles Lawrence
John Miles Lawrence, born at Rothwell, West Yorkshire on 7 November 1940 and died at Toulston, Tadcaster, Yorkshire on 16 April 1989, played first-class cricket for Somerset in 18 matches between 1959 and 1961....
, also a right-handed batsman and leg-break bowler, played 18 first-class matches for Somerset between 1959 and 1961. A younger son, Stephen, played Minor Counties cricket for Cheshire
Cheshire County Cricket Club
Cheshire County Cricket Club is one of the county clubs which make up the Minor Counties in the English domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Cheshire and playing in the Minor Counties Championship and the MCCA Knockout Trophy...
.
Character
Even WisdenWisden Cricketers' Almanack
Wisden Cricketers' Almanack is a cricket reference book published annually in the United Kingdom...
noted that Lawrence was a "cheerful" cricketer. The history of Somerset cricket put it at greater length: "His cheerful disposition was much to the liking of the dressing-room occupants, though his non-conformist attitudes, including his much-voiced disapproval of what is quaintly called industrial language, could be a little too inhibiting for those with a bent for freewheeling linguistics at the end of an unrewarding afternoon in the sun."
Another admirer wrote: "He was a jolly, kindly man, and perhaps the biggest contribution he made to Somerset cricket was his laughter and comradeship in the dressing room, at a time when things were generally going wrong."