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Home › Teams › England › Players › John Lever

John Lever

Full Name
John Kenneth Lever
Born
24-02-1949 Stepney, Middlesex, England
Current Age
72 years old
Major Teams
England
Batting Style
Right-hand bat
Bowling Style
Left-arm fast-medium
John Lever

John Lever Biography

John Lever is unfortunately remembered for the infamous Vaseline controversy of 1976-77. It is seldom remembered that he emerged from the series with 26 wickets at 14.61 and a strike rate of 34.5, and played a crucial role in England winning the series.

Lever was the ubiquitous swing bowler England has been producing since time immortal. When the conditions assisted him in the first half of the summers he got wickets by the bucketful. And when they became more conducive he kept toiling, eventually finishing with 1,722 wickets at 24 over a 23-year-long career. With Trevor Bailey and Keith Boyce he formed a much-feared trio for Essex, often having to bowl into the wind.

He also had 73 Test wickets. Of English left-arm seamers only Bill Voce (98) and Ryan Sidebottom (79) have more, and both have inferior averages and strike rates. Curiously, he played 12 series, and in 8 of them he played exactly 1 Test apiece.

He took a special liking to India, taking 45 wickets from 10 Tests against them at 22 (his other 11 Tests fetched him a mere 28). On Indian soil his 37 wickets came at less than 20.

Moving the ball prodigiously he ran through North Zone on that infamous 1976-77 tour, taking 4 for 51 and 3 for 8 before Tony Greig took him off. Soon afterwards he got his Test cap in the Delhi Test.

The ball had to be changed by the 11th over. Then Lever swung it as such bizarre angles that from 43 for no loss India slumped to 49 for 4 in 12 balls. The next morning they were shot out for 122. Lever finished with 7 for 46. He added 3 for 24 in the second innings, and added a first-innings 53 for good measure. He had never taken a ten-wicket haul in First-Class cricket till then.

In the third Test Lever bowled with gauze dripped in Vaseline on his forehead to counter the extreme heat and humidity of Madras. Once again India collapsed, Lever finishing with 5 for 59, moving the ball tremendously. However, he had dropped the strop of gauze next to the stumps while bowling. The ‘misbehaving’ ball was analysed, and Vaseline was found on it.

There were allegations from Indian captain Bishan Singh Bedi — not at Lever but at “somebody higher up”. Lever was made a scapegoat, and his father suffered a heart-attack; Lever maintained that the two events were “linked”.

He later went on a rebel tour to South Africa and received a three-year ban. However, he played for Natal in the winters along with his Essex stints in summer. With 98 wickets (third on the chart) in 1983 and 106 in 1984 (second) he played crucial roles in Essex’s consecutive Championship titles. He played a role in clinching the 1986 title as well, and was awarded with a Test recall, at 37. He took 6 wickets but never played again.

He was awarded an MBE in 1990. He later taught physical education at Bancroft’s School, Woodford Green, London, and became Middlesex bowling coach.

Abhishek Mukherjee

John Lever Batting & Fielding Averages

Career M In R NO HS Avg BF SR 100s 50s 4s 6s Ct St
Test 21 31 306 5 53 11.76 1198 25.54 0 1 26 1 11 0
ODIs 22 11 56 4 27* 8.000 152 36.84 0 0 2 0 6 0
T20s 0 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
World Cup 0 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

John Lever Bowling Averages

Career M B R W Avg EC SR 5WI 10WM BBI BBM
Test 21 4101 1951 73 26.72 2.854 56. 3 1 7/46 10/70
ODIs 22 1086 713 24 29.70 3.939 45.25 0 0 4/28 4/29
T20s 0 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
World Cup 0 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 4/29

John Lever Career statistics

Test Debut

India v England at Feroz Shah Kotla, Delhi, December 17, 1976

Last Test

England v India at Headingley, Leeds, June 19, 1986

ODI Debut

England v West Indies at North Marine Road, Scarborough, August 26, 1976

Last ODI

Sri Lanka v England at Sinhalese Sports Club Ground, Colombo, February 14, 1982

Features ON John Lever

    John Lever: A tale of toil, in-swing and Vaseline

    Of English left-arm seamers, John Lever has the best numbers. Of English seamers of the era, he was fourth. Unfortunately, he is ...

    When debutant John Lever administered ‘capital punishment’ on India

    John Lever, playing his first Test match, made a rogue replacement ball swing prodigiously and captured seven first innings wickets at ...

    Bishan Singh Bedi: The man who turned left-arm spin bowling into a fine art

    On this day 66 years ago, one of the most ebullient characters of Indian cricket and the greatest left-arm spinner produced by the ...

    Cricketing Rifts 15: Vaseline controversies that soured India-England relations

    The Dhoni-Sehwag rift may have been true or blown out of proportion by the media. However, far from being unique, discords such ...

    More Features on John Lever


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