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David Johnson: Fast and erratic Karnataka pacer

Johnson played First-Class cricket till the age of 28. He was one of the fastest Indian bowlers of his time.

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David Johnson © Getty Images
David Johnson © Getty Images

Born October 16, 1971, David Johnson had a short but decent career for Karnataka. Abhishek Mukherjee looks at a genuine speedster kept out by keen contest at state level.

Growing up in Karnataka in the 1990s as a seamer was difficult. Given that you had to compete with Javagal Srinath, Venkatesh Prasad, and Dodda Ganesh, breaking through as a fourth seamer was a near-impossible ask — more so because they had two formidable spinners in Anil Kumble and Sunil Joshi.

That was precisely the challenge David Jude Johnson was up against, and he could not live up to it. It was not that Johnson made the most of the limited opportunities he was provided. Wayward and erratic, Johnson’s economy rate in First-Class cricket was a below-par 3.61, which meant that he could not become the foil Srinath or Prasad needed at the other end.

Bowling with an unusual slinging action, Johnson was considered by many as the fastest Indian bowler of his era despite the presence of Srinath. Advised to sacrifice pace for accuracy, Johnson did not pay heed, and though he made it to the highest level he never had the accuracy to stay there for long.

In an interview with GS Vivek of Indian Express, Johnson later said: “As a youngster, I was told to cut pace. They told me if I keep hurling the ball like this, I will not play more than one year but I went on to play ten years of domestic cricket and even represented India. It’s okay for a medium pacer to talk about line and length but if you have pace, you shouldn’t compromise.”

A career of 39 First-Class matches fetched Johnson 125 wickets at 28.63 with 4 five-fors and a ten-for. He was not formidable with the bat, but his 437 runs at 11.20 included a hundred. His 2 Tests got him a mere 3 wickets.

Early days

Born in Arasikere, Johnson made it to Karnataka Under-19s and picked up 13 wickets from his first two outings. With Srinath being a regular feature of the Indian side, a 21-year Johnson made his First-Class debut against Goa. He managed 2 wickets. A season later he routed Assam for 107: opening bowling he finished with 8 for 55.

Johnson had his only ten-wicket haul (6 for 63 and 4 for 89) against Kerala in 1995-96; 4 for 49 against Bengal and 5 for 91 against Baroda suddenly thrust him into reckoning for a match against the touring Australians; and opening bowling (with Ganesh) for Indian Board President’s XI he dismissed Ricky Ponting and Michael Slater.

Three days after the match, with Srinath pulling out due to an injury, Johnson was called up to make his debut in the one-off Test against the tourists at Kotla.

Test cricket

Opening bowling with Prasad, Johnson got to bowl only 4 overs before the spinners took over: Kumble, Joshi, and Aashish Kapoor bowled out the tourists for a paltry 182. Nayan Mongia then stepped in with what was perhaps the finest innings of his career: the 366-ball 152 against Glenn McGrath, Paul Reiffel, and a debutant Brad Hogg put Australia out of the Test. India secured a 179-lead; batting at ten Johnson remained unbeaten without scoring.

The jolt came in the first over Johnson bowled in the second innings. He bowled a wide delivery, Slater flashed at it, Mohammad Azharuddin stretched out his right hand, and plucked the ball out of thin air. A charged up Johnson bounced Ponting. As told to Vivek, Johnson apparently “had Ricky Ponting caught off a bouncer but umpire Peter Willey didn’t give him out. To trouble Ponting with pace was quite an achievement.”

With Srinath back, Johnson missed the home series against South Africa, but made it to the squad for the return trip. In the interim period he bowled brilliantly for Karnataka against the South Africans, returning figures of 3 for 76 and 2 for 28 (though the hosts were mauled by Allan Donald and Lance Klusener and lost by 245 runs).

Johnson was hammered by a 38-year old Kepler Wessels as the Indians drew against Eastern Province. He conceded 88 from 19 overs despite having Ashwell Prince caught-behind early in the innings. He still played in the first Test of the series at Kingsmead as a third seamer.

The Indian seamers did a commendable job at Kingsmead. Prasad rocked the top order with some outstanding seam bowling (he finished with 10 wickets in the Test); Srinath provided him with excellent support; Johnson played his part, having Herschelle Gibbs caught-behind for a duck. Brian McMillan threatened a turnaround, but was trapped leg-before by Johnson; he finished with 2 for 52 as South Africa were bowled out for 235.

There was no more joy for India in the Test. They were bowled out for 100 and 66, scoring substantially less than what the hosts did in each innings (235 and 259) and losing a low-scoring contest in three days by a whopping 328-run margin. Johnson bowled 9 overs without a wicket and scored 3 and 5. He was replaced by Ganesh in the next Test at Newlands.

Johnson never played international cricket again. He did well against Free State (5 for 78), but it was not enough to earn him a comeback. He was not happy. He later told Vivek: “I played two matches against the two best sides in the world before being dumped. If I was erratic, where were the coaches and seniors in the team?”

Later days

Johnson returned to domestic cricket, bowling with pace and inaccuracy as before. Against Andhra next season he had a spell of 8.5-0-65-5 (his last First-Class five-for) — perhaps the best representation of the kind of bowler Johnson was (this came shortly after his 11-0-57-4 against Goa).

He played First-Class cricket till the age of 28. In his last match, against Goa, Johnson came out to join Anand Katti with Karnataka on 310 for 7. The batsmen added an unbroken 194 in 198 minutes; Katti finished with 109 not out from 204 balls with 13 fours, while Johnson’s 101 not out (his only score in excess of fifty) came in 166 balls with 9 fours and 4 sixes.

Johnson took up employment with DTDC. He was summoned for a solitary Ranji Trophy encounter against Hyderabad two years after his retirement; he finished with a solitary wicket for the cost of 158 runs. He also played for India in Hong Kong Super Sixes and was the oldest player in Karnataka Premier League in 2009.

(Abhishek Mukherjee is the Deputy Editor and Cricket Historian at CricketCountry. He blogs here and can be followed on Twitter here.)

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