Ashes Heroes No 27: Johnny Briggs

After a string of four Australians in this series, time for another Englishman I think. Normal service will be resumed next week, although there is still a substantial English presence to come on this list.

To England supporters of a certain age, the name Johnny Briggs will bring a sudden blast of the trombone to mind, the signature tune for the 1980s TV series about a northern child and his dog. Others will associate the name with the actor who played Mike Baldwin in Coronation Street. But there was an earlier Johnny Briggs, forgotten by many, who is the latest entry in our Ashes Heroes series.

Johnny Briggs was a short man - under 5ft 4in - but a giant of his day. A left-arm finger spinner from 1879 to 1900 for Lancashire, he took more than 2,200 first-class wickets at an average of less than 16 and 118 Test wickets at 17.75. He was the first man to take 100 wickets in Tests and held the record that now belongs to Muttiah Muralitharan until it was passed by Hugh Trumble in 1904, two years after Briggs's premature death.

He was the son of a publican from a village near Widnes. Both father and son played rugby league for the famous Lancashire side, but it was in cricket that Briggs would get his fame. Despite being selected by Lancashire before the age of 17, it took him a few years to be accepted as a bowler. He was of more use as a superb fielder in the covers and it was for that skill as much as his promising batting that Alfred Shaw took him on the England tour to Australia in 1884.

Oddly, this future destroyer of batsmen bowled only eight overs in the five Tests of that tour and amid a string of single-figure scores with the bat he played two innings of note, both at the MCG, with 121 batting at No 7 in the second Test taking took England from 204 for seven to 401, and 43 in the final Test securing match and series.

It was a start but hardly a promising one. Yet for some reason Briggs the Bowler suddenly came alive in 1885. He took 67 wickets at less than 14 that summer and went from strength to strength. When Australia visited in 1886 they must hardly have expected that the callow youth who had barely featured in the previous Ashes would be such a handful, especially as he did not bowl in the first Test. In the second, however, he took 11 wickets as Australia went down by an innings at Lord's. It came as a surprise to them: in their first innings they were 45-0 when he took his first wicket and 109 for eight when he took his fifth. Six more followed in the second innings. Mixing up his flight and pace well in the final Test, Briggs took another six wickets, three per innings, as Australia lost the third Test too. He was on his way as a bowler.

Briggs paid his second visit to what Wisden calls The Colonies in 1887-88, but took only five wickets in two Tests. In 1888, he took 12 more in three Tests. Briggs was the demon of the county circuit, however. In 1887 he took 114 wickets, in 1888 it was 160 at an average of almost ten runs each. He shouldered much of Lancashire's bowling as one of their rare paid professionals, but he didn't mind as his reputation grew. In one Test against South Africa in 1889 he took 15 wickets, 14 of them clean-bowled. Few spinners can do that. Bobby Peel (No 38 in our series) was his only rival.

The 1890s were the making of him. On his third Ashes tour, 1892-93, he took a hat-trick in the Test at Sydney, then took six wickets in each innings at Adelaide as Australia were dismissed for 100 and 169 to lose by an innings. Australia won that series, but England regained the Ashes the next summer with Briggs taking 16 wickets in two Tests.

Off to Australia again in 1894 - how often Ashes tours came round in those days - and Briggs was an instant hero. He made 57 in the first Test but England followed on 261 behind. Their batting was more solid second time round and with Briggs making 42, they set Australia 177 to win. The home side reached 112 for two by stumps and some England players hit the bar. But then it rained and on a sticky wicket, Briggs and Peel ran through the Aussie line-up for England to win by ten runs. Cricket would not see anything like it for another 87 years.

It was a fascinating series - England going 2-0 up, Australia levelling and England winning the final Test to hold on to the Ashes - and Briggs was a constant wicket-taker, although his biggest innings haul was four for 65 at Sydney. He continued to bowl well for Lancashire - helping them to win their first county championship in 1897 - but declined for England, playing only two more Tests at home and five away in 1897-98.

Unlike the brooding, alcoholic Peel, Briggs was a jolly man. CB Fry said that "not even a disappointed batsman" could call Briggs a beast. "Why, he beams upon you before and after your innings. The shorter your innings the happier he is towards you. He passes you a cheery time of day. He inquires with feeling about your health and form. He rubs the ball in the dust, takes two steps and serves you a fast yorker instead of the high tossed slow you expected. You retire, he smiles. What could be pleasanter?"

Yet this short, happy man, who had such a successful Test and county career, was to have a sad ending. In 1899, his season was ended early when Tom Hayward struck him with the ball, breaking a rib, which punctured his heart. He suffered an epileptic seizure during what would be his last Test at Leeds that year and though he came back with some success the next season, he started to shown signs of mental illness. He was admitted to Cheadle Asylum and died in January 1902, at the age of 39, after suffering another relapse.

Comments

A man from the golden age of English cricket. No baggy green and no Australia as a nation. Uncovered pitches and lob bowling. Pity the colonials don't know their place anymore.

Trust the 1932-3 touring side will occupy the top ten positions (leave outGubby andPataudi - too sporting)

[Dave]

any chance of him ever getting into the ICC' hall of fame

[Vidhya]

>> Yet for some reason Briggs the Bowler suddenly came alive in 1885.

This looks strange. Wisden doesn't throw much light on it and sounds as if one morning he just decided to take up bowling seriously.

Interesting statistics. Reached 100 wickets in 25 Tests - there are more than a dozen who did it in 20 or less. 118 wickets in 33 Tests @ a very ordinary 3.57 wickets per Test.

But he reached 100 wickets in only about 585 6-ball overs, and conceding only around 1350 runs (@ 13.50) - second behind George Lohmann in the all-time lists for both.

[Vidhya]

"there is still a substantial English presence to come on this list."

Let me guess. The top-10 will be nine Englishmen and Don Bradman ? :-)