Published: Oct 03, 2013, 04:55 PM (IST)
Edited: Oct 03, 2016, 11:53 AM (IST)
The Lancashire legend Johnny Briggs was born October 3, 1862. Abhishek Mukherjee looks at the career of the first man to reach a hundred Test wickets.
The Lancastrian Johnny Briggs was easily one of the leading left-arm spinners of the 19th century — easily at par with his contemporaries, the Yorkshiremen Ted Peate and Bobby Peel in terms of sheer numbers. Indeed, it would not be an exaggeration to say that Briggs was one of the greatest bowlers in the world at the turn of the century.
Given his incredible success, it’s almost impossible to believe that Briggs got a Lancashire contract mainly due to his fielding in cover. “In those early days he was played chiefly for his fielding, his quickness and energy making him from the first a special favourite with the crowds at Old Trafford,” wrote Wisden on his electric presence on the field. Given his rotund physique it was an even more deceptive attribute.
With the bat, too, Briggs could take on any bowling on his day. He batted with panache, often playing the most outrageous strokes (which turned to be too outrageous at times, often leading to his downfall); Briggs’s fielding and batting made him a popular figure in Lancashire. His trademark shot — one that CB Fry described as the “whizzing uppercut that travels over third man’s head” — would not have looked out of place even in 2013.
The main aspect of Briggs’s cricket was obviously his bowling. His diminutive frame of five feet four inches meant that he often had to rely on flight more than his taller contemporaries; his variation of pace was phenomenal and his control exemplary, but what really set him apart from the others was the prodigious turn he managed to extract.
It was a familiar site in 18th century Old Trafford: the ball was thrown to the southpaw; he would go back to his mark and rub the ball in the dust; he would take two steps and release the ball. It could be anything — it could be a massive turn, it could go straight, it could be the one that would skid through, it could even be a fast yorker: basically anything under the sky.
He also bowled the beamer: the batsman was almost always taken by surprise when he found the ball aiming towards his shoulder at an express pace from the hands of the diminutive left-arm spinner, leaving him almost no time to react.
Then there was his stamina. Fry wrote of him: “This little animal is round and smiles, it bowls and bowls and bowls and it always gets wickets.” Never hesitant to attack, Briggs even risked and tossed the ball up even when the opposition had 6 or less runs left to win.
Briggs surpassed all levels of endurance in the match against Sussex on a featherbed at Old Trafford in 1897. On a track that offered nothing for any bowler Briggs opened bowling with his left-arm spin (he often did that), sent down 126 overs (105 6-ball overs), picking up 4 for 306.
The first man to take a hundred Test wickets, Briggs finished with 815 runs at 18.11 with a hundred and 118 wickets from 33 Tests at a phenomenal 17.75 and a strike rate of 45.1 with 9 five-fors and 4 ten-fors.
These are no mean numbers: if we put a cut-off of a hundred Test wickets he comes fifth in terms of both average (after George Lohmann, Syd Barnes, Charlie Turner, and Peel) and strike-rate (after Lohmann, Dale Steyn, Barnes, and Waqar Younis).
In 535 First-Class matches Briggs picked up 2,221 wickets at 15.95 and a strike rate of 45.0. He had 200 five-fors and 52 ten-fors. He also scored 14,092 runs at 18.27 with 10 hundreds and held 258 catches. He became only the second player after WG Grace to reach the 10,000 run-2,000 wicket double.
It was interesting that he would be bracketed with Grace. There was an instance when the two chubby men took the field together: a child thought he was The Doctor’s son.
For Lancashire he still holds the following records:
– 2 of the top 5 innings bowling records (10 for 55 and 9 for 29).
– Second-most wickets (1,696), only after Brian Statham’s 1,816.
– First player to score a hundred and take a five-for in the same match 4 times (Wasim Akram has achieved this subsequently).
– Only 7 times in the history of Lancashire cricket has a player scored a hundred and a ten-for. Briggs has achieved 3 of these.
– He is the also the only Lancashire player to have achieved the 10,000 run-1,000 wicket double (10,707 runs and 1,696 wickets).
– He also achieved the much coveted double hat-trick in a match against Minshull Vernon (which fielded 15 players) at Parkfield (just outside Nantwich): he took 6 wickets in a single over on either side of lunch — all of them clean bowled.
Early days
Joseph and Johnny Briggs were born in Sutton-in-Ashfield. They were the sons of James Briggs, a man who had played against a few All-England XIs in the 1870s. Joseph, two years older to Johnny, was a left-arm spinner as well; he went on to play First-Class cricket for Nottinghamshire, once routing Grace’s Gloucestershire with figures of 5 for 35.
James was a keen club cricketer who went around playing matches in North England before becoming a pub landlord near Widnes. Johnny Briggs first played as a sub-professional at Hornsea in Yorkshire as early as an age of 13; the brothers also played rugby for Widnes Rugby League Football Club till he fractured his arm during a match. He also played hockey for Manchester.
James took his sons to Anfield Cricket Club and all three of them played in a match. The Club Secretary offered James a contract. James replied that it was Johnny who was “in want of the situation” and was told that Johnny was too young to be offered a contract.
Johnny played for Hornsea, and when he did not find a place he eventually moved to Lancashire, finding a contract with Northern Cricket Club in 1878. The next season he was brought a telegram by his landlady: Lancashire had requested Briggs’s services.
A terribly excited Briggs “bolted off” to the Northern Club Secretary Mr Molyneux to see permission to play for his county. Briggs made his First-Class debut against Nottinghamshire (his native county) at Trent Bridge, scoring 36 runs and not picking up a wicket.
He had bowled only 26 overs in his first 11 First-Class matches before Edmund Rowley, leading Gentlemen of the North against Players of the North, threw him the new ball in each innings. The Players won by 3 wickets, but Briggs emerged as a hero, picking up 4 for 39 and 5 for 34. These were also his first First-Class wickets.
However, these were his only wickets that season, and he had 9 more wickets across the next 3 seasons. His batting finally took some shape in 1883 when he scored 4 fifties, but his overall performance was way beneath what his talent had to offer.
The next milestone came against Derbyshire in 1884 where he scored his maiden hundred (112); later that season he also picked up 6 for 54 against Somerset. The two performances, along with a few cameos with both the bat and the ball, earned him a place in the subsequent Ashes tour.
Test debut
Though Briggs scored 38 runs from the first 2 tour matches at 12.33 he was still picked for the first Test at Adelaide. Briggs scored a solitary run before ‘Joey’ Palmer had him caught behind; he did not get to bat in the second innings, and did not bowl in the entire Test.
He was still retained for the next Test at MCG. Coming out to bat at 194 for 5 he found his side down at 204 for 7. He started playing his strokes in characteristic fashion, adding 50 with William Attewell, 49 more with Peel, and 98 for the last wicket with Joe Hunter.
It was a phenomenal display of strokeplay. Briggs’ 121 — his only Test hundred — had come in 150 minutes, and had included 15 fours. His only chances came when he was on 104 and 117, by which time the damage had already been done. He eventually fell to an outstanding catch by Tom Horan off Sammy Jones at deep square-leg; England won by ten wickets.
Briggs won an amount of £10 for his effort. He was also (perhaps) rewarded with 8 four-ball overs of bowling by Arthur Shrewsbury, in which he conceded 13 runs without taking a wicket. The series generally went eventless. Briggs played all 5 Tests, scored 177 runs at 25.28, and did not bowl again; he was still a batsman who could bowl.
Emergence as a bowler
The year 1885 changed everything. He scored 58 and 115 against Kent, followed it with 5 for 11 and 6 for 49 against Oxford, and then 6 for 71 against Sussex. He went on to score his career-best of 186 against Surrey shortly afterwards. He also got married the day before — which tells a thing or two about his commitment towards the sport and Lancashire.
Then came the first ten-for when he routed MCC with 6 for 23 and 6 for 76; against Derbyshire he returned incredible figures of 42-29-29-9 to rout the hosts for 87. With 857 runs at 27.64 and 67 wickets at 13.74 he suddenly emerged as a one of the leading all-rounders in the country.
He was selected for the home Ashes as well. Once again he was not allowed to bowl in the first Test at Old Trafford (this meant that he had bowled only 32 deliveries in his first 6 Tests). After England scored 353 (for some reason Briggs was sent to bat at ten; he scored a duck) Briggs picked up 5 for 29 and 6 for 45 to inflict an innings defeat on the tourists.
The 3-0 whitewash was completed at The Oval. Batting at 9, Briggs scored an exuberant 53, adding 90 with Walter Read; then he bowled unchanged with Lohmann to rout Australia for 68 and helped bowl them out again. He returned figures of 3 for 28 and 3 for 30 in the Test. From a non-bowler, Briggs finished the season with 17 wickets at 7.76.
The next two tours in Australia (1886-87 and 1887-88) went rather eventless. In domestic cricket, however, he shone in 1887, picking up 114 wickets at 17.70. The next season, 1888, turned out to be one of Briggs’s best.
Briggs bowled magnificently in the home Ashes that season as England came from behind to claim the 3-Test series 2-1. He finished with 12 wickets at 7.83, but his best performance came in the second Test at Lord’s: he returned figures of 37-24-25-5 to bowl out the tourists for 80; Australia never recovered, lost by an innings, and conceded the series in the next Test.
The season fetched Briggs 872 runs at 21.26 with a hundred and 160 wickets at 10.49 with 16 five-fors and 4 ten-fors. He was named a Wisden Great Bowler of the Year (it was the inaugural year of the awards, and this was the only award; however, like the usual Wisden award this automatically disqualified him from being a recipient of the award again). He was an obvious choice for the South Africa tour that followed. It would be the introductory Test series for the hosts.
Newlands madness
The first Test at St George’s Park turned out to be a closer affair than expected. England were made to bat twice and won by 8 wickets (albeit on the second day). Briggs returned figures of 4 for 39 and 2 for 34. The teams moved to Newlands.
It was a historic Test in more ways than one. Bobby Abel (120) outscored the entire South African team (47 and 43), thus becoming the first batsman to achieve the feat. But the remarkable performance came from Briggs, who returned ridiculous figures of 7 for 17 and 8 for 11. 14 of his 15 wickets were bowled (and the other leg-before). In the second innings he took only 32 balls to reach his five-for, which was a record at that time. Ernie Toshack currently holds the record with 19.
Briggs held the record for the cheapest ten-for till Bert Ironmonger went past him with his 11 for 24; Glenn McGrath has also picked up 10 for 27 subsequently. Briggs, however, holds the record for the cheapest 15-for and the best Test average (1.86) by anyone with a ten-for in a Test.
Briggs’s 8 for 11 was also the cheapest eight-for in a Test innings till Lohmann bettered it with 8 for 7. Briggs finished with 21 wickets from 2 Tests in the series at 4.80; it still remains the best series average for anyone with 20 wickets.
Back home – and more Ashes Tests
Starting from 1988 Briggs averaged less than 14 with the ball for 6 out of 7 English seasons (missing out only in 1893), topping 120 wickets every season. Even on flat tracks he was difficult to play; on conducive tracks he was virtually unplayable.
For Lancashire he formed a formidable pair with the tearaway Arthur Mold (who had almost identical numbers to Briggs from 1889 to 1896). The significantly different pair opened bowling and often bowled unchanged for Lancashire throughout innings.
At SCG in 1891-92, Briggs picked up the third hat-trick in the history of Test cricket, bowling Walter Giffen, trapping Jack Blackham leg-before, and having Sydney Callaway caught by Grace in consecutive deliveries but could not help Australia from taking an unassailable 2-0 lead in the series.
He struck back in the final Test at Adelaide, bowling unchanged throughout the two Australian innings (they had followed-on), picking up 6 for 49 and 6 for 87 to rout the hosts for 100 and 169. England lost the Ashes, but some pride was regained.
In the second Test of the return Ashes at The Oval (he had missed the first Test at Lord’s) Briggs bowled out Australia twice with 5 for 34 and 5 for 114; he picked up 6 more at Old Trafford, and England regained the Ashes comfortably.
Lancashire gave Briggs a benefit season in 1894; it fetched him £1,000.
At the top of the world
The 1894-95 Ashes began dramatically. After Australia scored 586 (Briggs went wicketless), England were bowled out for 325 and 437 (Briggs scored 57 and 29). Australia went to stumps on Day Five with the score on 113 for 2, requiring only 64 more runs.
The next morning Peel (6 for 67) and Briggs (3 for 25) bowled out Australia for 166, helping their side to a miraculous 10-run victory. It was the first time that a side had won a Test after following-on.
Fred Spofforth had quit with a tally of 94 Test wickets; after the second Test at MCG Briggs was stranded on 93 (Charlie Turner had already equalled Spofforth at MCG). However, Turner missed out at Adelaide; Briggs equalled Spofforth and Turner when he had Joe Darling caught by ‘Punch’ Philipson, and then broke the world record by having William Bruce caught by Bill Brockwell.
In the next Test at SCG Briggs became the first bowler to reach 100 Test wickets when he had ‘Affie’ Jarvis caught by Philipson. It was a three-way tussle for the top spot from there. The following timeline would elaborate it:
| On | By | At | Event |
| January 31, 1887 | Fred Spofforth | SCG | Took his last and 94th Test wicket |
| December 31, 1894 | Charlie Turner | MCG | Equalled Spofforth’s record of 94 Test wickets |
| January 12, 1895 | Johnny Briggs | Adelaide | Set new world record going past Spofforth and Turner’s 94 |
| February 1, 1895 | Johnny Briggs | SCG | First bowler to reach 100 Test wickets |
| February 4, 1895 | Charlie Turner | SCG | Set new world record going past Briggs’ 100 |
| March 3, 1895 | Johnny Briggs | MCG | Set new world record going past Turner’s 101 |
| March 21, 1896 | George Lohmann | Newlands | Set new world record going past Briggs’ 103 |
| January 14, 1898 | Johnny Briggs | Adelaide | Set new world record going past Lohmann’s 112 |
| Briggs’ record stood till Hugh Trumble picked up his 119th wicket at MCG on January 2, 1904. | |||
Winning the Championship
Briggs’ final great achievement was perhaps to guide Lancashire to the Championship title in 1897. It was Archie MacLaren’s batting and the bowling of Briggs, Mold, and the leg-break bowler Willis Cutell that were instrumental in Lancashire’s first season of glory.
Briggs finished the Championship with 140 wickets (next to only Tom Richardson) at 16.38 with 12 five-fors and 5 ten-fors; he also scored 581 runs at 17.60.
Final Test days and the first attack
Briggs toured Australia for a record sixth time in 1897-98; the record stands, though Colin Cowdrey emulated him over three-quarters of a century later. He seemed to be a shadow of his old self, picking up only 9 wickets from 3 Tests at 53.88. He failed in the tour matches as well.
However, there were definitely expectations of him performing better in the home Ashes of 1899. He had, at this stage, 94 Test Ashes wickets, and was keen to reach the 100-mark. He missed the first 2 Tests but picked up 3 for 53 on Day One of the third Test at Headingley.
That night Briggs suffered from a violent fit and had to be admitted to Cheadle Asylum. He played no more cricket that season. It also turned out to be his last Test.
The final season
He came back strongly in 1900 with 817 runs at 20.94 with 2 fifties and 127 wickets at 17.74 with 9 fifties and 2 hundreds. The crème la crème of the season came against Worcestershire where he picked up all 10 wickets for 55, bowling out the tourists for 106. It remained his best First-Class figures.
After that his health deteriorated rapidly and he did not play again. In his last match for North against South he scored 38 and 18 and picked up 6 for 135 and 1 for 25.
The man
Briggs was loved by players and crowd alike. HS Altham wrote of him: “With his round but resilient figure, his quips and pranks and generous heart, Briggs was immensely popular wherever he went, and as long as he was on the field the game was sure to be alive and human.”
Neville Cardus had called him the Joseph Grimaldi among cricketers. It was not an exaggeration: the perpetual joker and prankster who always seemed to be ready for a laugh, his sad eyes indeed reminded everyone of the legendary comedian. As MacLaren had said, “The Sun was always shining when he was with us.”
Fry wrote: “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… You retire, he smiles. What could be pleasanter?”
Then again, there was the fact that he was always a sport and took things in his stride; once when he had tossed the ball up several times and was hit several times all over the park by MacLaren he simply took out his handkerchief, wiped the sweat off his forehead, and said, “It’s a fine day, Mr MacLaren.”
The great cricketer — and perhaps the greater character — did pass through a series of ailments and accidents throughout his lifetime. As mentioned above, he had fractured his arm in his early days during a rugby match, sprained his leg while he tried to avoid being run out during a Roses match, damaged his thumb when his bicycle hit a tram, and on one occasion his ribs got rammed against his heart valve when Tom Hayward hit a ball that hit his chest on the full.
The accidents chased him outside the boundaries of his country as well. His windpipe was pushed through the roof of his mouth when he was thrown off his horse in Australia; yet another horse had kicked him almost off the edge of a cliff (makes one wonder — did he overestimate his riding skills?). In South Africa, too, he suffered from sunstroke. He had to play on despite the sunstroke; he was, after all, a Player.
These were, however, not the biggest blows. As mentioned above, Briggs had an epileptic seizure and had to be admitted to Cheadle Asylum in Cheshire. At that point of time there was no permanent cure to that particular form of epilepsy. Though he was back at his peak in 1900 the seizures were liable to be back any time.
He had another attack before the next season started and had to go back to the asylum. Even in the asylum he used to bowl up and down the wards. However, there was another seizure towards the end of 1901 and his health began to deteriorate.
Briggs passed away on January 11, 1902. He had just passed 39.
(Abhishek Mukherjee is a cricket historian and Senior Cricket Writer at CricketCountry. He generally looks upon life as a journey involving two components – cricket and literature – though not as disjoint elements. A passionate follower of the history of the sport with an insatiable appetite for trivia and anecdotes, he has also a steady love affair with the incredible assortment of numbers that cricket has to offer. He also thinks he can bowl decent leg-breaks in street cricket, and blogs at http://ovshake.blogspot.in. He can be followed on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/ovshake42)
