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Ian Johnson (cricketer)
Encyclopedia
Ian William Geddes Johnson CBE
(8 December 1917 – 9 October 1998) was an Australian cricketer
who played 45 Test matches
as a slow off-break bowler
between 1946 and 1956. Johnson captured 109 Test wickets at an average
of 29.19 run
s per wicket and as a lower order
batsman made 1,000 runs at an average of 22.92 runs per dismissal. He captained
the Australian team in 17 Tests, winning seven and losing five, with a further five drawn. Despite this record, he is better known as the captain
who lost consecutive Ashes
series against England. Urbane, well-spoken and popular with his opponents and the public, he was seen by his team mates as a disciplinarian and his natural optimism was often seen as naive.
Aged 17, Johnson made his first-class cricket
debut for Victoria
in the 1935–36 season but did not establish a permanent place in the team until 1939–40. His career was interrupted by the Second World War
; he served with the Royal Australian Air Force
as a pilot and later as a flight instructor
. He returned to cricket after his discharge and was selected to tour New Zealand with the Australian team, making his Test debut. Johnson was part of Don Bradman's Invincibles team; undefeated on tour in England in 1948. He was a regular member of the national side until poor form saw him left out of the Australian squad for the 1953 tour of England
.
Johnson was appointed Australian captain following Lindsay Hassett
's retirement. The appointment was not universally popular; some team mates and supporters felt Keith Miller
had a better claim to the position. In his first series as captain
, Australia was defeated by a strong English team on home soil. The tour of the West Indies that followed was a cricketing and diplomatic triumph for Johnson. Australia won the Test series comfortably and Johnson's astute public relations skills helped avoid a repeat of the crowd disturbances that had marred England's visit to the islands 12 months before. However, his Australian team then went on to lose the 1956 Ashes series in England
. Johnson's Test career ended with Australia's first Test tour of the Indian subcontinent
, which occurred during the voyage back to Australia. Australia lost the one-off Test against Pakistan, the first between the two nations, before claiming the series against India. On his return to Australia, he retired from all forms of cricket at age 39.
After retirement, Johnson worked for a time as a sports commentator
, including covering the 1956 Summer Olympics
in Melbourne. In 1957 he was appointed Secretary of the Melbourne Cricket Club
, one of the most prestigious positions in Australian sport. He would remain in the role for 26 years, overseeing the development of the Melbourne Cricket Ground
and playing a key role in the organisation of the Centenary Test
in 1977. In 1957 he was also honoured with an MBE
for services to cricket; this was twice upgraded: to OBE
in 1977 and to CBE
in 1982.
, an inner suburb of Melbourne, on 8 December 1918. His father, William Johnson
—a wine and spirit grocer—was a keen cricketer who played one first-class
match for Victoria
in 1924–25 before serving as a selector
for the Australian Test team.
As a schoolboy, Ian Johnson excelled at a variety of sports. He participated in athletics and Australian rules football
, as well as playing as a wicket-keeper
for Middle Park
State School. In 1936, he became the Victorian amateur squash
champion. However, he found his vocation in cricket. In 1934–35, aged only 16, and still a schoolboy at Wesley College
, Johnson played his first match for the South Melbourne Cricket Club
First XI.
He was given the opportunity to play first-class cricket the following season, playing Tasmania
—not then involved in the Sheffield Shield competition—just 23 days past his seventeenth birthday. He scored 34 and 26 and took two wickets in each innings as Tasmania won by six wickets. He was retained for the next game, scoring 15 runs in his only innings and taking 3 wickets for 40 runs (3/40) in the Tasmanian first innings and 1/27 in the second.
He did not play first-class cricket again for three years, finally returning to the Victorian side to play another two games against Tasmania in 1938–39, making his highest first-class score to date, 88 runs, in the second game. He secured his place in the Victorian team in the 1939–40 season, making his Sheffield Shield debut against South Australia
in Adelaide in November 1939. Batting at number five
, Johnson scored 33 runs in the first innings and 41 in the second, but was unable to take a wicket. That season, Johnson scored 313 runs at an average of 26.08 and took 13 wickets at an average of 39.92. In a season truncated because of the Second World War, Johnson played five matches in 1940–41, scoring 292 runs at an average of 32.44 and taking 25 wickets at 27.60.
Johnson's cricket career was interrupted by the war and he enlisted in the Royal Australian Air Force
(RAAF) in March 1941. He flew Bristol Beaufighter
s with No. 22 Squadron RAAF
and, by 1944, was serving as a Flight Lieutenant
in the South West Pacific theatre
. In June 1945, Johnson was awarded the Commendation for Valuable Service in the Air
for his work as a flight instructor with No. 11 Elementary Flying Training School, based at Benalla
in rural Victoria. He was discharged in December 1945 and resumed his first-class cricket career in the 1945–46 season.
in Wellington
. Johnson scored 7 not out
and he was not needed to bowl as New Zealand collapsed for an aggregate of just 96 runs in their two innings; Australia won by an innings and 103 runs.
Test cricket resumed in Australia with the visit of the English team in 1946–47
. Before the Test matches started, the touring team played Victoria in a warm-up match. Johnson took 4 wickets for 38 runs in the English second innings but was unable to prevent the tourists from winning by 244 runs. He was included in the Australian team for the First Test at Brisbane, scoring 47 runs in the Australian total of 645. Once again Johnson was not given an opportunity to bowl as Australia won the match by an innings and 332 runs. Johnson took his first Test wicket with only his third delivery in Test cricket, dismissing Len Hutton
caught behind down the leg side
in the Second Test in Sydney. Making use of the breeze, in one 11 over stretch Johnson conceded only three runs—including eight maidens, taking one wicket. Johnson went on to take 6 wickets for 42 runs in the innings as England were bowled out for 255. Johnson, batting as a nightwatchman
, joined Sid Barnes
at the wicket late on the second day of the match, batting through until stumps. He was dismissed the next day having scored 7 runs in an Australian total of 659. In the English second innings Johnson took another two wickets; England were dismissed for 371 runs and lost the Test by an innings and 33 runs.
Johnson met with less success in the Third Test in his home town of Melbourne. Batting at number six
, Johnson was dismissed by Norman Yardley
for a golden duck
and, in the second innings, run out
, again without scoring, giving him an unwanted pair. With the ball, Johnson took one wicket in the English first innings. In the second innings Australia were not able to dismiss England and the match was drawn; Johnson failed to take a wicket. Johnson returned to form with the bat in the Fourth Test at Adelaide. Unable to take a wicket in England's first innings, during the Australian first innings he made 52 runs. He dismissed Hutton again in the second innings, his only wicket of the match. The match finished in a draw, giving the Australians an unbeatable two–nil lead in the Test series and therefore retaining The Ashes
. Johnson was injured and could not play in the Fifth and final Fifth Test in Sydney.
A weak Indian team toured Australia for the first time in 1947–48
, to play five Tests against an Australian team led by Don Bradman
. The Indian team was weakened by withdrawals of their first-choice captain Vijay Merchant
, as well as Rusi Modi
and Mushtaq Ali
. Furthermore, Fazal Mahmood
had become a Pakistan
i, following the partition of India
. Johnson played in the first four Tests, taking 16 wickets at an average of 16.31 runs per wicket. The Third Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground
(MCG) saw Johnson's best performance of the series, 4/59 in the first innings and 4/35 in the second. Australia won the series 4–0.
Johnson was a member of Don Bradman's Australian team touring England in 1948. Known as the Invincibles, the Australian team was the first side to remain unbeaten through an entire English tour. Johnson started the tour well, taking 7/42 in an early tour match against Leicestershire
, followed by 5/53 against Surrey
. Against Essex
, Johnson took 6/37 in the second innings. Earlier in the match Australia had scored 721 runs in a single day; Johnson made 9.
Having earned selection for the First Test at Trent Bridge
, Johnson took only one wicket in the match; Australia won the Test by eight wickets. He had more success in the Second Test at Lord's
taking three wickets in the first innings as Australia won the match by 409 runs. Johnson failed to take a wicket in a rain-affected Third Test at Old Trafford, and was replaced after the Fourth Test, having taken only seven wickets in the series at an average of 61.00. Wisden Cricketers' Almanack noted that while Johnson had started the tour well, he was not as effective in English conditions as Australian. Nonetheless, Johnson played an important role in maintaining the Australian team's unbeaten record, bowling more overs than anyone other than Bill Johnston
—allowing Bradman to rest Keith Miller
and Ray Lindwall
, his fast bowling
pair, for the important matches.
at Johannesburg
. The Australians won the match by an innings and 83 runs; Johnson made 66 and took 3/37 and 3/54. His best performance was in the Third Test at Kingsmead in Durban
; 5/34 including the wicket of Dudley Nourse
as South Africa was dismissed for 99. Australia, having made only 75 in their first innings, scored 336, including 151 not out
by Neil Harvey
, to win the match by five wickets. Australia won the series—Lindsay Hassett
's first as captain—four Tests to nil.
Freddie Brown and his English team toured Australia in 1950–51
to compete for the Ashes in a five Test series. Australia won the series four Tests to one; however Wisden reports that while "Australia held a slight superiority ... the difference between the teams was markedly less than revealed by statistics". Johnson had a "mediocre series", taking only seven wickets at an average of 44.42. His best performance was in the Third Test, when he took three wickets in the England first innings. He followed this by scoring 77 runs in a 150 run partnership
with Keith Miller, who went on to score 145 not out
. Johnson took another wicket in the English second innings and Australia won the Test by an innings and 13 runs. England's victory in the Fifth Test in Melbourne ended Australia's unbeaten run of 29 Tests since 1938.
The next summer, the West Indian team visited Australia
to play five Tests. The series was billed as the "unofficial cricket championship of the world", following the West Indian victory against England in 1950. However, the Australians won the series comfortably, 4–0. Johnson had another lean series, taking only eight wickets at an average of 32.75.
When the South Africans toured in 1952–53
, Johnson was selected for Australia ahead of Queenslander Colin McCool
. His selection was unpopular with a parochial Gabba crowd; when Gil Langley
—who had replaced another Queenslander, Don Tallon
—fumbled a stumping chance against John Watkins
, they cheered loudly. Johnson was omitted from the side for the remainder of the series and was not included in the Australian squad to tour England in 1953
.
While the Australian team lost the Ashes for the first time in twenty years, Johnson spent the winter of 1953 calling Australian rules football
matches for local radio station 3AW
and writing columns for The Argus
newspaper. Later that year, the Victorian Cricket Association
appointed him to succeed the retired Hassett as captain of Victoria. In the middle of the season, at a mutual friend's New Year's Eve
party, Hassett approached Johnson to discuss his form. Taking a confrontational approach, Hassett said to Johnson, "The problem is that you are not getting stuck in. You're not trying." When Johnson protested, Hassett continued "If you have got any brains, you will start taking this game seriously. Because if you do you will end up captaining Australia next year."
The other contender for the vacant national captaincy position was Keith Miller
, the fast-bowling all-rounder and captain of New South Wales
. Miller had led his team to victory in the 1953–54 Sheffield Shield and was recognised as an intuitive captain. Based solely on cricketing merit, Miller, a regular selection at international level, was seen as the superior candidate. However, inter-state rivalries and a perception that Miller would be a poor disciplinarian saw him passed over. This perception was partly based on an incident when Miller, as captain of New South Wales, allowed his team-mate Sid Barnes
to serve drinks on the field dressed in a three-piece suit rather than standard cricket whites. Johnson, on the other hand, was part of the cricket establishment: he was an alumnus of the exclusive Wesley College
and the son of a former Test selector. He had also returned to form, taking 37 wickets in the 1953–54 Sheffield Shield—more than any other player—at an average of 16.37. In what cricket writer Dick Whitington speculated was a vote split between the New South Wales and Victorian factions, the Australian Board of Control
appointed Johnson as Australian captain. His appointment was not universally applauded.
. In his first match as captain—the First Test at the Gabba in Brisbane
—he led his team to victory, defeating England by an innings and 154 runs. It was to be the only Australian victory in the series. Injured, Johnson was unable to play in the Second Test in Sydney. With Miller also injured, Arthur Morris
was asked to lead the Australian team against an English fast bowling
attack including Frank Tyson
and Brian Statham
. Tyson, who took ten wickets in the match, was instrumental in England winning the Test by 38 runs. Johnson and Miller returned for the Third Test in Melbourne but were unable to prevent another English victory, this time by 128 runs. The Test was marred by controversy; Melbourne newspaper, The Age
, alleged that the pitch
had been watered during the course of the match, in contravention of the laws of cricket
. Following an enquiry, the Victorian Cricket Association and the Melbourne Cricket Club
issued a statement denying any watering of the playing area during the match; however Wisden reported that "large cracks were evident on Saturday yet on Monday these had closed and for a time the surface behaved more kindly to batsmen". Certainly, Johnson felt the pitch had been changed to his disadvantage: "It was like losing the toss twice over". Johnson and Test debutant Len Maddocks
shared a partnership of 54 runs to help Australia fight back in their first innings. Tyson ended the Australian resistance, taking 7/27 in the Australian second innings—England won the match by 128 runs. England won the Fourth Test at Adelaide by five wickets and therefore retained the Ashes. With the Fifth and final Test ending in a draw, England won the series 3–1.
Wisden attributed England's victory to "superb fast bowling by Tyson and Statham [that] turned the scales so that finally the Australian batsmen were completely humbled". Losing three successive Tests saw the selectors of the Australian team subjected to harsh criticism. In the four Tests that Johnson played, he claimed 12 wickets at 20.25 and had a batting average of 58.00—inflated because of a series of not out
innings; his highest score for the series was 41.
had been marred by riots and violent disturbances. With the White Australia policy
in place at the time, the Australians feared an unpleasant reception from the Caribbean public. However, the Australian team proved very popular throughout the West Indies; Wisden reported that "much credit belonged to the tact displayed by Ian Johnson, who proved a most able captain". Johnson cultivated a relaxed manner with the locals; in one instance at Sabina Park
in Jamaica
, he stopped to pick up a toddler who had run on to the playing field during the change of innings. Smiling and chatting to the boy, he then carried him safely off the ground. Team mate Alan Davidson
claimed, "Ian did the best PR job of any captain I've ever seen".
As well as being popular, the Australian team was successful on the field, winning the series three Tests to nil. The series was dominated by batsmen; in the five Test matches played the Australians scored 12 centuries
while for the West Indies, Clyde Walcott
alone scored five centuries—including centuries in both innings in the Tests at Sabina Park and Queens Park Oval. Johnson injured his foot while batting during the Sabina Park Test and was unable to bowl or field for the remainder of the match. In his place, Miller led the Australians to a nine-wicket victory. The Second Test at Queens Park Oval was a high scoring draw; Johnson scored 66 runs and took a single wicket. Johnson met with success in the Third Test at Bourda
in Georgetown, Guyana
. He took 7/44 in the West Indian second innings—still the best-ever innings analysis by an Australian captain—and Australia won the Test by eight wickets.
A major rift between Johnson and Miller—erstwhile rivals for the Australian captaincy—developed during the Fourth Test, played at Kensington Oval
in Barbados
. During the third day, Miller, bowling fast-medium swingers
, had dismissed Everton Weekes
and Collie Smith
in quick succession to leave the West Indies at 6/147 with Denis Atkinson
and Clairmonte Depeiaza
batting. Johnson, thinking that the two batsmen would be vulnerable to express pace, asked Miller to increase his bowling speed. When Miller refused, Johnson remonstrated with him: "I'll say who bowls and what they bowl". With Miller refusing to bowl as directed, Johnson replaced him in the attack with Ray Lindwall. Walking off the field at the end of the day's play and continuing in the dressing room, Miller provoked Johnson, telling him he "couldn't captain a team of schoolboys", among other insults. Finally Johnson responded, asking "If you want to go on like that why don't we go around the back and thrash it out?" The much larger Miller declined the offer and the pair travelled back to the team hotel together. The next day, Atkinson and Depeiaza batted throughout the entire day's play. Their partnership of 347 runs for the seventh wicket is still a world record.
In the Fifth and final Test, the Australians scored 758 runs in their only innings—including maiden Test centuries for Benaud and Ron Archer
, centuries for Miller and Colin McDonald, and a double century for Neil Harvey—to win the match by an innings and 83 runs.
Overall, despite the team's victory in the series, Johnson's on-field contribution was inconsistent. While he took 14 wickets in the Test series, seven came in just one innings. His inconsistent form saw internal team tensions develop over whether his place in the team was justified; Wisden claimed that "some malcontents called him 'myxomatosis
' because he only bowled when the rabbits were in".
Donald Bradman wrote to Prime Minister Robert Menzies
after the tour, recommending an honour for Johnson in recognition of his contribution to the tour's success. The next year, both Johnson and Miller were appointed as Members of the Order of the British Empire
(MBE).
. The team's visit to England coincided with what was described by Wisden as "the wettest of all summers in memory". The poor weather gave the Australian team little chance to develop their confidence and Johnson used the early matches of the tour to allow his batsmen and bowlers to experiment in the unfamiliar conditions. In one of these early matches, Surrey
defeated Australia by ten wickets; the first time Australia had lost to county opposition since 1912. In parallel with later events in the Old Trafford Test, off-spinner Jim Laker
took all ten wickets in the Australian first innings; Laker and left-arm spinner Tony Lock
took 19 of the 20 Australian wickets that fell in the match. While Johnson was successful with the ball, taking 6 wickets for 168; his preconceived tactics saw him allow Lindwall—his main fast bowler—only two overs in Surrey's first innings and attempt to turn Alan Davidson into a spin bowler. Cricket writer Ray Robinson
said of Johnson's tactics throughout the tour, "I have not met one good cricketer or cricket judge who is not mystified by them". The manner of this loss severely dented Australia's confidence against spin for the remainder of the tour.
The First Test, at Nottingham
, was affected by rain and, despite England declaring
twice, the match ended in a draw. Injuries to Lindwall and Davidson meant an under-strength Australian team was forced to take the field in the Second Test at Lord's. In what Wisden described as a "triumph of teamwork", the Australians won the match by 185 runs. Johnson was unlucky to lose the toss in the Third Test at Leeds, because Lock and Laker were able to take maximum advantage of a pitch conducive to spin. The duo took 18 of the 20 Australian wickets and England won the match by an innings and 42 runs.
The Fourth Test at Manchester proved controversial. The Old Trafford pitch had little grass, perhaps as a result of earlier wet weather. Again, Johnson lost the toss and England chose to bat first. Johnson and his spinning partner, Richie Benaud
were unable to exploit the spin-friendly conditions and the English made 459 runs. In reply, the Australians could not come to grips with the conditions; Laker took nine of the ten wickets, Lock the other, as Australia were brushed away for just 84. Amid wild weather, the Australians were asked to follow-on
. A determined batting performance was not enough to prevent an English victory by an innings and 170 runs. Laker's performance was historic. He took 10/53, the first time in a Test match a bowler had taken all ten wickets in an innings. With his 9/37 in the first innings, he had captured 19 wickets for the match, still a world record in first-class cricket. Wisden reported that the Australians were "extremely bitter over the condition of the pitch". Former Test cricketer and journalist Bill O'Reilly
wrote "This pitch is a complete disgrace" while Colin McDonald later said, "England cheated: if by cheating you include the practise of preparing wickets to suit your own purpose." Johnson was generous towards the victors. Playing down the discontent felt by the Australians, he said: "When the controversy and side issues of the match are forgotten, Laker's wonderful bowling will remain." The media reported that Australia had been "Lakered".
The Fifth and final Test was drawn and Australia lost the series two Tests to one. Australia had now lost three Ashes series in a row, the last two with Johnson as captain. His own form was modest; he took only six wickets in the Tests at an average of over 50 runs per wicket. His performance with the bat was worse, scoring just 61 runs at an average of only 7.62. Once again, Johnson's place in the team was questioned. Acerbic cricket pundit Sid Barnes
—a former team mate—joked that Johnson was "Australia's non-playing captain". Bill Ferguson, the Australian team's scorer, was also critical: "Had Johnson been told by his friends in the press that he was, in fact, a passenger, he might have pondered on the advisability of standing down. [...] There would have been no shame in standing down." Writing after the tour, Miller—a tour selector—stated "Privately I thought that [Johnson] was not a form selection. On the other hand, I did not think it wise to change skippers in midstream."
and Pakistan
for the first time, with mixed results. On a matting pitch
, unfamiliar to the Australians, Johnson's team lost the inaugural Test against Pakistan at Karachi
. Responding to the loss, a cartoon drawn by Norman Mitchell of the Adelaide News
newspaper suggested island planters might be able to scrape together a team that would be a match for the Australians. Returning to turf pitches in India, the Australians restored some pride. Johnson was the highest scorer in the Australian team's victory by an innings and five runs in the First Test at Nehru Stadium
in Madras
. Due to injury, both Johnson and Miller missed the drawn Second Test at Brabourne Stadium
at Bombay
; Lindwall skippered the side. Johnson returned for the Third Test at Eden Gardens
, Calcutta
for what would ultimately prove to be his final Test. The Australians won the match by 94 runs, giving them a 2–0 series win. S. K. Gurunathan
, summing up in the Indian Cricket Almanack
, wrote: "The Australians showed themselves to be a superior side even when their batting failed".
When the team finally arrived home, Johnson announced his retirement from all cricket at the age of 39. In all, he played 45 Tests, capturing 109 wickets at an average of 29.19, including three five-wicket hauls. He scored exactly 1,000 runs, making him one of only eleven Australians to achieve the double
of 1,000 runs and 100 wickets in Test cricket. In all first-class cricket, Johnson had taken 619 wickets and scored 4,905 runs.
His record as the Australian captain was mixed; he had captained Australia in 17 Tests, winning seven and losing five. However, he was better known as the first captain to lead Australia to successive Ashes defeats in the 20th century. Reviewing Johnson's time as captain, Wisden said, "Unfortunately for him, he took over in the mid-1950s, when Australian cricket was decidedly inferior to England's for the first time since before the Bradman era" but "he was a fine cricketer and, in some respects, a visionary".
. They were married for 56 years and had two sons, Bill and Bob. After the war, when cricket commitments allowed, Johnson worked as a salesman. Immediately following his retirement, Johnson spent some time as one of the first television sporting commentators in Australia, covering the 1956 Summer Olympics
, held in his home town of Melbourne. He wrote a book; Cricket at the crossroads, published in 1957.
The following year, Johnson was chosen from a group of 44 candidates for the position of secretary of the Melbourne Cricket Club
. The position—previously held by Test cricketers Hugh Trumble
and Vernon Ransford
—is one of the most prestigious jobs in Australian cricket. During a time of "dramatic change", he helped to maintain the Melbourne Cricket Ground's ("MCG") pre-eminence as a sporting arena. Johnson managed the club and the ground through some major redevelopment, keeping a balance between the competing interests of Australian rules football
and cricket. For services to sports administration, he was appointed an Officer in the Order of the British Empire
(OBE) in 1976. He played a leading part in organising the Centenary Test, held at the MCG in 1977.
For 20 years, he served as a member of the Victorian state Parole board
. After serving Melbourne Cricket Club for 26 years, he retired to spend more time at his home in the southern Melbourne suburb of Albert Park
and his holiday house in Torquay
. In 1982, his OBE was upgraded, when he was appointed a Commander in the Order of the British Empire
(CBE) for services to cricket. He died in Melbourne in 1998 following a long illness.
normally associated with countrymen of his day. Johnson had an atypical bowling action, with a "rather staccato swing" of his bowling arm. He bowled with a high degree of flight
, causing opposing batsmen difficulties in judging where the ball would land. Making intelligent use of the wind, Johnson was able to make his deliveries float away from the batsman, changing from his standard off-break. According to E. W. Swanton
, Johnson was "probably the slowest bowler to achieve any measure of success in Test cricket". His action was compared to a corkscrew; writer Ray Robinson saying that "to coax turn from firm Australian pitches he twisted the ball almost hard enough to screw a doorknob off". There were doubts about the legality of his bowling action; his English rival, Trevor Bailey
claimed Johnson threw
every delivery. Johnson was never no-balled for throwing, having played cricket in front of umpires from Australia, England, New Zealand, South Africa, the West Indies, India and Pakistan.
Jack Pollard
described Johnson as a "dour middle order batsman". He had a sound defence and when necessary could hit the ball with power. Bradman was full of praise for Johnson's batting after the Invincibles tour in 1948: "Splendid batsman—most valuable about number 7", also describing him as a "very good slip field".
As captain, Johnson was noted for his public relations skills and his gift for public speaking. He was optimistic by nature, with a belief in "guts and determination". However, he was seen as insensitive at times; Bill Johnston took offence when Johnson attempted to rouse him during a practise session: "Just cos you are one of the old blokes in the side doesn't mean you don't have to bloody well put in you know." At times his optimism could appear artless and naive. Ian Craig
—his successor as Australian captain—was critical of Johnson's attitude during the 1956 tour of England: "I don't think [Johnson] was ever realistic about the situation. [...] I supposed he felt obliged to make rallying speeches, but the team knew what was going on." Pat Crawford
felt "Johnson couldn't get anything out of the players, whereas the guys would have busted a gut for [Miller]". He was seen by some of his team mates as "dictatorial" with Benaud and Harvey particularly resenting Johnson's insistence on the entire touring party attending every lead-in match before 1956 Test series in England.
Johnson was sportsmanlike; on one occasion in South Africa, when Eastern Province
batsman Ray Connell was bowled after the ball deflected from his head, Johnson replaced the bails
, allowing him to continue batting. During the Adelaide Test in 1950–51 he "walked", ensuring that the unlucky John Warr
took at least one wicket for the series. Johnson was not above some gamesmanship, resorting to time-wasting tactics to avoid defeat in the final Test of the 1956 series against England. He was willing to have some fun on occasion; when in the West Indies he convinced a local pilot to allow him to fly the plane carrying the Australian team between Trinidad and nearby Tobago
, to the later displeasure of the Australian Board of Control.
Normally diplomatic, in a newspaper article in South Africa, Johnson was blunt with his hosts about race relations in the country: "I am certain that the average man-in-the-street avoids the problem too much for, at the moment, you're living in a fool's paradise". Urbane, courteous and popular with opposition players and spectators, Colin Cowdrey
described Johnson as "an astute leader and fine ambassador for cricket".
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
(8 December 1917 – 9 October 1998) was an Australian cricketer
Cricketer
A cricketer is a person who plays the sport of cricket. Official and long-established cricket publications prefer the traditional word "cricketer" over the rarely used term "cricket player"....
who played 45 Test matches
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...
as a slow off-break bowler
Bowling (cricket)
In the sport of cricket, bowling is the action of propelling the ball toward the wicket defended by a batsman. A player skilled at bowling is called a bowler; a bowler who is also a competent batsman is known as an all-rounder...
between 1946 and 1956. Johnson captured 109 Test wickets at an average
Bowling average
Bowling average is a statistic measuring the performance of bowlers in the sport of cricket.A bowler's bowling average is defined as the total number of runs conceded by the bowlers divided by the number of wickets taken by the bowler, so the lower the average the better. It is similar to earned...
of 29.19 run
Run (cricket)
In the sport of cricket, a run is the basic unit of scoring. Runs are scored by a batsman, and the aggregate of the scores of a team's batsmen constitutes the team's score. A batsman scoring 50 or 100 runs , or any higher multiple of 50 runs, is considered a particular achievement...
s per wicket and as a lower order
Batting order (cricket)
In cricket, the batting order is the sequence in which batsmen play through their team's innings, there always being two batsmen taking part at any one time...
batsman made 1,000 runs at an average of 22.92 runs per dismissal. He captained
Captain (cricket)
The captain of a cricket team often referred to as the skipper is the appointed leader, having several additional roles and responsibilities over and above those of a regular player...
the Australian team in 17 Tests, winning seven and losing five, with a further five drawn. Despite this record, he is better known as the captain
Australian national cricket captains
Australia played in the first-ever Test match in cricket in 1877, the first-ever One Day International in 1971 and the first-ever Twenty20 international in 2005...
who lost consecutive Ashes
The Ashes
The Ashes is a Test cricket series played between England and Australia. It is one of the most celebrated rivalries in international cricket and dates back to 1882. It is currently played biennially, alternately in the United Kingdom and Australia. Cricket being a summer sport, and the venues...
series against England. Urbane, well-spoken and popular with his opponents and the public, he was seen by his team mates as a disciplinarian and his natural optimism was often seen as naive.
Aged 17, Johnson made his first-class cricket
First-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...
debut for Victoria
Victorian Bushrangers
The Victorian cricket team, nicknamed the Bushrangers, is an Australian cricket team based in Melbourne, that represents the state of Victoria. It is administered by Cricket Victoria and draws its players from Melbourne's Premier Cricket competition...
in the 1935–36 season but did not establish a permanent place in the team until 1939–40. His career was interrupted by the Second World War
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...
; he served with the Royal Australian Air Force
Royal Australian Air Force
The Royal Australian Air Force is the air force branch of the Australian Defence Force. The RAAF was formed in March 1921. It continues the traditions of the Australian Flying Corps , which was formed on 22 October 1912. The RAAF has taken part in many of the 20th century's major conflicts...
as a pilot and later as a flight instructor
Flight instructor
A flight instructor is a person who teaches others to fly aircraft. Specific privileges granted to holders of a flight instructor qualification vary from country to country, but very generally, a flight instructor serves to enhance or evaluate the knowledge and skill level of an aviator in pursuit...
. He returned to cricket after his discharge and was selected to tour New Zealand with the Australian team, making his Test debut. Johnson was part of Don Bradman's Invincibles team; undefeated on tour in England in 1948. He was a regular member of the national side until poor form saw him left out of the Australian squad for the 1953 tour of England
Australian cricket team in England in 1953
The Australian cricket team toured England in the 1953 season to play a five-match Test series against England for The Ashes.England won the final Test to take the series 1-0 after the first four Tests were all drawn. England therefore recovered the Ashes for the first time since losing them in...
.
Johnson was appointed Australian captain following Lindsay Hassett
Lindsay Hassett
Arthur Lindsay Hassett MBE was a cricketer who played for Victoria and Australia. The diminutive Hassett was an elegant middle-order batsman, described by Wisden as, "... a master of nearly every stroke ... his superb timing, nimble footwork and strong wrists enabled him to make batting look a...
's retirement. The appointment was not universally popular; some team mates and supporters felt Keith Miller
Keith Miller
Keith Ross Miller MBE was an Australian Test cricketer and a Royal Australian Air Force pilot during World War II. Miller is widely regarded as Australia's greatest ever all-rounder. Because of his ability, irreverent manner and good looks he was a crowd favourite...
had a better claim to the position. In his first series as captain
English cricket team in Australia in 1954-55
Len Hutton captained the English cricket team in Australia in 1954–55, playing as England in the 1954-55 Ashes series against the Australians and as the MCC in their other matches on the tour. It was the first time that an England team had toured Australia under a professional captain since the 1880s...
, Australia was defeated by a strong English team on home soil. The tour of the West Indies that followed was a cricketing and diplomatic triumph for Johnson. Australia won the Test series comfortably and Johnson's astute public relations skills helped avoid a repeat of the crowd disturbances that had marred England's visit to the islands 12 months before. However, his Australian team then went on to lose the 1956 Ashes series in England
Australian cricket team in England in 1956
The Australian cricket team toured England in the 1956 season to play a five-match Test series against England for The Ashes.England won the series 2-1 with 2 matches drawn and therefore retained The Ashes....
. Johnson's Test career ended with Australia's first Test tour of the Indian subcontinent
Indian subcontinent
The Indian subcontinent, also Indian Subcontinent, Indo-Pak Subcontinent or South Asian Subcontinent is a region of the Asian continent on the Indian tectonic plate from the Hindu Kush or Hindu Koh, Himalayas and including the Kuen Lun and Karakoram ranges, forming a land mass which extends...
, which occurred during the voyage back to Australia. Australia lost the one-off Test against Pakistan, the first between the two nations, before claiming the series against India. On his return to Australia, he retired from all forms of cricket at age 39.
After retirement, Johnson worked for a time as a sports commentator
Sportscaster
In sports broadcasting, a commentator gives a running commentary of a game or event in real time, usually during a live broadcast. The comments are normally a voiceover, with the sounds of the action and spectators also heard in the background. In the case of television commentary, the commentator...
, including covering the 1956 Summer Olympics
1956 Summer Olympics
The 1956 Melbourne Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XVI Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event which was held in Melbourne, Australia, in 1956, with the exception of the equestrian events, which could not be held in Australia due to quarantine regulations...
in Melbourne. In 1957 he was appointed Secretary of the Melbourne Cricket Club
Melbourne Cricket Club
The Melbourne Cricket Club is a sporting club based in Melbourne, Australia. It was founded in 1838 and is regarded as the oldest sporting club in Australia....
, one of the most prestigious positions in Australian sport. He would remain in the role for 26 years, overseeing the development of the Melbourne Cricket Ground
Melbourne Cricket Ground
The Melbourne Cricket Ground is an Australian sports stadium located in Yarra Park, Melbourne and is home to the Melbourne Cricket Club. It is the tenth largest stadium in the world, the largest in Australia, the largest stadium for playing cricket, and holds the world record for the highest light...
and playing a key role in the organisation of the Centenary Test
Centenary Test
Centenary Test refers to two matches of Test cricket played between the English cricket team and the Australian cricket team, the first in 1977 and the second in 1980. These matches were played to mark the 100th anniversaries of the first Test cricket matches played in Australia and in England ...
in 1977. In 1957 he was also honoured with an MBE
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
for services to cricket; this was twice upgraded: to OBE
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
in 1977 and to CBE
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
in 1982.
Early years
Johnson was born in North MelbourneNorth Melbourne, Victoria
North Melbourne is a large inner city suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 2 km north-west from Melbourne's central business district. It is bounded by the CityLink freeway to the west, Victoria Street to the south, O'Connell and Peel Streets to the east and Flemington Road to the north. Its...
, an inner suburb of Melbourne, on 8 December 1918. His father, William Johnson
William Johnson (cricketer)
William James Johnson was a wine and spirit grocer and keen cricketer who played one first-class match for Victoria in 1924–25. He was later a selector of the Australian Test team....
—a wine and spirit grocer—was a keen cricketer who played one first-class
First-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...
match for Victoria
Victorian Bushrangers
The Victorian cricket team, nicknamed the Bushrangers, is an Australian cricket team based in Melbourne, that represents the state of Victoria. It is administered by Cricket Victoria and draws its players from Melbourne's Premier Cricket competition...
in 1924–25 before serving as a selector
Selector (sport)
In many team sports, a selection panel consist of selectors who choose teams or individuals to represent a country or club in sporting competitions.Selectors tend to be past players....
for the Australian Test team.
As a schoolboy, Ian Johnson excelled at a variety of sports. He participated in athletics and Australian rules football
Australian rules football
Australian rules football, officially known as Australian football, also called football, Aussie rules or footy is a sport played between two teams of 22 players on either...
, as well as playing as a wicket-keeper
Wicket-keeper
The wicket-keeper in the sport of cricket is the player on the fielding side who stands behind the wicket or stumps being guarded by the batsman currently on strike...
for Middle Park
Middle Park, Victoria
Middle Park is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 5 km south from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area is the City of Port Phillip. At the 2006 Census, Middle Park had a population of 4012...
State School. In 1936, he became the Victorian amateur squash
Squash (sport)
Squash is a high-speed racquet sport played by two players in a four-walled court with a small, hollow rubber ball...
champion. However, he found his vocation in cricket. In 1934–35, aged only 16, and still a schoolboy at Wesley College
Wesley College, Melbourne
Wesley College, Melbourne is an independent, co-educational, Christian day school in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Established in 1866, the college is a school of the Uniting Church in Australia. Wesley is the largest school in Australia by enrolment, with 3,511 students and 564 full-time staff...
, Johnson played his first match for the South Melbourne Cricket Club
Casey-South Melbourne Cricket Club
The Casey-South Melbourne Cricket Club is a cricket club located in the outer south-eastern Melbourne suburb of Cranbourne East, which plays in the Victorian Premier Cricket competition. Founded in 1862 as South Melbourne, it has produced nine Australian Test captains, more than any other cricket...
First XI.
Tasmanian Tigers
The Tasmanian cricket team, nicknamed the Tigers, represents the Australian state of Tasmania in cricket tournaments. They compete annually in the Australian domestic senior men's cricket season, which currently consists of the first-class Sheffield Shield, the limited overs Ford Ranger Cup, and...
—not then involved in the Sheffield Shield competition—just 23 days past his seventeenth birthday. He scored 34 and 26 and took two wickets in each innings as Tasmania won by six wickets. He was retained for the next game, scoring 15 runs in his only innings and taking 3 wickets for 40 runs (3/40) in the Tasmanian first innings and 1/27 in the second.
He did not play first-class cricket again for three years, finally returning to the Victorian side to play another two games against Tasmania in 1938–39, making his highest first-class score to date, 88 runs, in the second game. He secured his place in the Victorian team in the 1939–40 season, making his Sheffield Shield debut against South Australia
Southern Redbacks
The South Australia cricket team, nicknamed the Southern Redbacks and known as the West End Redbacks due to their sponsorship agreement with local brewers West End, are an Australian first class cricket team based in Adelaide, South Australia, and represent the state of South Australia...
in Adelaide in November 1939. Batting at number five
Batting order (cricket)
In cricket, the batting order is the sequence in which batsmen play through their team's innings, there always being two batsmen taking part at any one time...
, Johnson scored 33 runs in the first innings and 41 in the second, but was unable to take a wicket. That season, Johnson scored 313 runs at an average of 26.08 and took 13 wickets at an average of 39.92. In a season truncated because of the Second World War, Johnson played five matches in 1940–41, scoring 292 runs at an average of 32.44 and taking 25 wickets at 27.60.
Johnson's cricket career was interrupted by the war and he enlisted in the Royal Australian Air Force
Royal Australian Air Force
The Royal Australian Air Force is the air force branch of the Australian Defence Force. The RAAF was formed in March 1921. It continues the traditions of the Australian Flying Corps , which was formed on 22 October 1912. The RAAF has taken part in many of the 20th century's major conflicts...
(RAAF) in March 1941. He flew Bristol Beaufighter
Bristol Beaufighter
The Bristol Type 156 Beaufighter, often referred to as simply the Beau, was a British long-range heavy fighter modification of the Bristol Aeroplane Company's earlier Beaufort torpedo bomber design...
s with No. 22 Squadron RAAF
No. 22 Squadron RAAF
No. 22 Squadron is a Royal Australian Air Force mixed regular and reserve squadron that provides support for the RAAF in the Sydney region. Formed in 1936, the squadron served in Papua New Guinea during the Second World War, and later followed the Pacific war as far as the Philippines...
and, by 1944, was serving as a Flight Lieutenant
Flight Lieutenant
Flight lieutenant is a junior commissioned rank in the Royal Air Force and the air forces of many Commonwealth countries. It ranks above flying officer and immediately below squadron leader. The name of the rank is the complete phrase; it is never shortened to "lieutenant"...
in the South West Pacific theatre
South West Pacific theatre of World War II
The South West Pacific Theatre, technically the South West Pacific Area, between 1942 and 1945, was one of two designated area commands and war theatres enumerated by the Combined Chiefs of Staff of World War II in the Pacific region....
. In June 1945, Johnson was awarded the Commendation for Valuable Service in the Air
Queen's Commendation for Valuable Service
The Queen's Commendation for Valuable Service is a British military award that recognises meritorious service during, or in support of, operations...
for his work as a flight instructor with No. 11 Elementary Flying Training School, based at Benalla
Benalla, Victoria
Benalla is a city of just over 9,000 people located just off the Hume Freeway in north-eastern Victoria, Australia, about southwest of Wangaratta. Its Local Government Area is the Rural City of Benalla.- Overview :...
in rural Victoria. He was discharged in December 1945 and resumed his first-class cricket career in the 1945–46 season.
Debut and early Test career
Following his discharge from service, Johnson returned to first-class cricket in the 1945–46 season, winning a place on the Australian tour of New Zealand. The only Test match—the first between the two nations—was played at the Basin ReserveBasin Reserve
The Basin Reserve , is a cricket ground in Wellington, New Zealand, used for Test, first-class and one-day cricket. Some argue that its proximity to the city, its Historic Place status and its age make it the most famous cricket ground in New Zealand...
in Wellington
Wellington
Wellington is the capital city and third most populous urban area of New Zealand, although it is likely to have surpassed Christchurch due to the exodus following the Canterbury Earthquake. It is at the southwestern tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Rimutaka Range...
. Johnson scored 7 not out
Not out
In cricket, a batsman will be not out if he comes out to bat in an innings and has not been dismissed by the end of the innings. One may similarly describe a batsman as not out while the innings is still in progress...
and he was not needed to bowl as New Zealand collapsed for an aggregate of just 96 runs in their two innings; Australia won by an innings and 103 runs.
Test cricket resumed in Australia with the visit of the English team in 1946–47
English cricket team in Australia in 1946-47
The English cricket team in Australia in 1946–47 was captained by Wally Hammond, with Norman Yardley as his vice-captain and Bill Edrich as the senior professional. It played as England in the 1946-47 Ashes series against the Australians and as the MCC in their other matches on the tour...
. Before the Test matches started, the touring team played Victoria in a warm-up match. Johnson took 4 wickets for 38 runs in the English second innings but was unable to prevent the tourists from winning by 244 runs. He was included in the Australian team for the First Test at Brisbane, scoring 47 runs in the Australian total of 645. Once again Johnson was not given an opportunity to bowl as Australia won the match by an innings and 332 runs. Johnson took his first Test wicket with only his third delivery in Test cricket, dismissing Len Hutton
Len Hutton
Sir Leonard "Len" Hutton was an English Test cricketer, who played for Yorkshire County Cricket Club and England in the years around the Second World War as an opening batsman. He was described by Wisden Cricketer's Almanack as one of the greatest batsmen in the history of cricket...
caught behind down the leg side
Leg side
The leg side, or on side, is defined to be a particular half of the field used to play the sport of cricket.From the point of view of a right-handed batsman facing the bowler, it is the left hand side of the cricket field...
in the Second Test in Sydney. Making use of the breeze, in one 11 over stretch Johnson conceded only three runs—including eight maidens, taking one wicket. Johnson went on to take 6 wickets for 42 runs in the innings as England were bowled out for 255. Johnson, batting as a nightwatchman
Nightwatchman (cricket)
In the sport of cricket, a nightwatchman is a lower-order batsman who comes in to bat higher up the order than usual near the end of the day's play...
, joined Sid Barnes
Sid Barnes
Sidney George Barnes was an Australian cricketer and cricket writer, who played 13 Test matches between 1938 and 1948. Able to open the innings or bat down the order, Barnes was regarded as one of Australia's finest batsmen in the period immediately following the Second World War...
at the wicket late on the second day of the match, batting through until stumps. He was dismissed the next day having scored 7 runs in an Australian total of 659. In the English second innings Johnson took another two wickets; England were dismissed for 371 runs and lost the Test by an innings and 33 runs.
Johnson met with less success in the Third Test in his home town of Melbourne. Batting at number six
Batting order (cricket)
In cricket, the batting order is the sequence in which batsmen play through their team's innings, there always being two batsmen taking part at any one time...
, Johnson was dismissed by Norman Yardley
Norman Yardley
Norman Walter Dransfield Yardley was an English cricketer who played for Cambridge University, Yorkshire County Cricket Club and England, as a right-handed batsman and occasional bowler. An amateur, he captained Yorkshire from 1948 to 1955 and England on fourteen occasions between 1947 and 1950,...
for a golden duck
Duck (cricket)
In the sport of cricket, a duck refers to a batsman's dismissal for a score of zero.-Origin of the term:The term is a shortening of the term "duck's egg", the latter being used long before Test cricket began...
and, in the second innings, run out
Run out
Run out is a method of dismissal in the sport of cricket. It is governed by Law 38 of the Laws of cricket.-The rules:A batsman is out Run out if at any time while the ball is in play no part of his bat or person is grounded behind the popping crease and his wicket is fairly put down by the opposing...
, again without scoring, giving him an unwanted pair. With the ball, Johnson took one wicket in the English first innings. In the second innings Australia were not able to dismiss England and the match was drawn; Johnson failed to take a wicket. Johnson returned to form with the bat in the Fourth Test at Adelaide. Unable to take a wicket in England's first innings, during the Australian first innings he made 52 runs. He dismissed Hutton again in the second innings, his only wicket of the match. The match finished in a draw, giving the Australians an unbeatable two–nil lead in the Test series and therefore retaining The Ashes
The Ashes
The Ashes is a Test cricket series played between England and Australia. It is one of the most celebrated rivalries in international cricket and dates back to 1882. It is currently played biennially, alternately in the United Kingdom and Australia. Cricket being a summer sport, and the venues...
. Johnson was injured and could not play in the Fifth and final Fifth Test in Sydney.
A weak Indian team toured Australia for the first time in 1947–48
Indian cricket team in Australia in 1947-48
The India national cricket team toured Australia in the 1947–48 season to play a five-match Test series against Australia. Australia won the series 4-0, with one match drawn....
, to play five Tests against an Australian team led by Don Bradman
Donald Bradman
Sir Donald George Bradman, AC , often referred to as "The Don", was an Australian cricketer, widely acknowledged as the greatest batsman of all time...
. The Indian team was weakened by withdrawals of their first-choice captain Vijay Merchant
Vijay Merchant
Vijaysingh Madhavji Merchant , real name Vijay Madhavji Thakersey was an Indian cricketer. A right-hand batter and occasional right-arm medium pace bowler, Merchant played first class cricket for Mumbai cricket team as well as 10 Test matches for India between 1929 and 1951...
, as well as Rusi Modi
Rusi Modi
Rustomji Sheriyar 'Rusi' Modi was an Indian batsman who played for the Indian National Cricket Team from 1946 to 1952....
and Mushtaq Ali
Mushtaq Ali
Syed Mushtaq Ali was a former Indian cricketer, and an aggressive Test batsman. Ali holds the distinction of scoring the first Test century by any Indian overseas, when he hit a ton for the team in 1936 at Manchester in England.A Wisden Special Award winner, he scored four first class hundreds in...
. Furthermore, Fazal Mahmood
Fazal Mahmood
Fazal Mahmood was a Pakistani cricketer, regarded as the finest pace bowler of his country's early years. He played in 34 Test matches and took 139 wickets at a bowling average of 24.70...
had become a Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
i, following the partition of India
Partition of India
The Partition of India was the partition of British India on the basis of religious demographics that led to the creation of the sovereign states of the Dominion of Pakistan and the Union of India on 14 and 15...
. Johnson played in the first four Tests, taking 16 wickets at an average of 16.31 runs per wicket. The Third Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground
Melbourne Cricket Ground
The Melbourne Cricket Ground is an Australian sports stadium located in Yarra Park, Melbourne and is home to the Melbourne Cricket Club. It is the tenth largest stadium in the world, the largest in Australia, the largest stadium for playing cricket, and holds the world record for the highest light...
(MCG) saw Johnson's best performance of the series, 4/59 in the first innings and 4/35 in the second. Australia won the series 4–0.
Bradman's Invincibles
Leicestershire County Cricket Club
Leicestershire 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 Leicestershire. It has also been representative of the county of Rutland....
, followed by 5/53 against Surrey
Surrey County Cricket Club
Surrey County Cricket Club is one of the 18 professional county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Surrey. Its limited overs team is called the Surrey Lions...
. 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...
, Johnson took 6/37 in the second innings. Earlier in the match Australia had scored 721 runs in a single day; Johnson made 9.
Having earned selection for the First Test at Trent Bridge
Trent Bridge
Trent Bridge is a Test, One-day international and County cricket ground located in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England and is also the headquarters of Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club. As well as International cricket and Nottinghamshire's home games, the ground has hosted the Finals Day of...
, Johnson took only one wicket in the match; Australia won the Test by eight wickets. He had more success in the Second Test at Lord's
Lord's Cricket Ground
Lord's Cricket Ground is a cricket venue in St John's Wood, London. Named after its founder, Thomas Lord, it is owned by Marylebone Cricket Club and is the home of Middlesex County Cricket Club, the England and Wales Cricket Board , the European Cricket Council and, until August 2005, the...
taking three wickets in the first innings as Australia won the match by 409 runs. Johnson failed to take a wicket in a rain-affected Third Test at Old Trafford, and was replaced after the Fourth Test, having taken only seven wickets in the series at an average of 61.00. Wisden Cricketers' Almanack noted that while Johnson had started the tour well, he was not as effective in English conditions as Australian. Nonetheless, Johnson played an important role in maintaining the Australian team's unbeaten record, bowling more overs than anyone other than Bill Johnston
Bill Johnston (cricketer)
William Arras Johnston was an Australian cricketer who played in forty Test matches from 1947 to 1955. A left arm pace bowler, as well as a left arm orthodox spinner, Johnston was best known as a spearhead of Don Bradman's undefeated 1948 touring team, well known as "The Invincibles"...
—allowing Bradman to rest Keith Miller
Keith Miller
Keith Ross Miller MBE was an Australian Test cricketer and a Royal Australian Air Force pilot during World War II. Miller is widely regarded as Australia's greatest ever all-rounder. Because of his ability, irreverent manner and good looks he was a crowd favourite...
and Ray Lindwall
Ray Lindwall
Raymond Russell Lindwall MBE was a cricketer who represented Australia in 61 Tests from 1946 to 1960. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest fast bowlers of all time. He also played top-flight rugby league football with St...
, his fast bowling
Fast bowling
Fast bowling, sometimes known as pace bowling, is one of the two main approaches to bowling in the sport of cricket. The other is spin bowling...
pair, for the important matches.
Decline in form
During the Test series in South Africa in 1949–50, Johnson took 18 wickets at an average of 24.22—only Bill Johnston, with 23, took more. Against a South African team weakened following the Second World War, the Australians started the series with a win in the First Test at Ellis ParkEllis Park Stadium
Ellis Park Stadium, also known because of its sponsorship by The Coca-Cola Company as Coca-Cola Park, is a rugby union and association football stadium in the city of Johannesburg, Gauteng Province, South Africa. It hosted the final of the 1995 Rugby World Cup, which was won by the country's...
at Johannesburg
Johannesburg
Johannesburg also known as Jozi, Jo'burg or Egoli, is the largest city in South Africa, by population. Johannesburg is the provincial capital of Gauteng, the wealthiest province in South Africa, having the largest economy of any metropolitan region in Sub-Saharan Africa...
. The Australians won the match by an innings and 83 runs; Johnson made 66 and took 3/37 and 3/54. His best performance was in the Third Test at Kingsmead in Durban
Durban
Durban is the largest city in the South African province of KwaZulu-Natal and the third largest city in South Africa. It forms part of the eThekwini metropolitan municipality. Durban is famous for being the busiest port in South Africa. It is also seen as one of the major centres of tourism...
; 5/34 including the wicket of Dudley Nourse
Dudley Nourse
Arthur Dudley Nourse was a South African Test cricketer and batsmanThe son of batsman Arthur Nourse, Nourse played 34 Test matches in a long career of sixteen years...
as South Africa was dismissed for 99. Australia, having made only 75 in their first innings, scored 336, including 151 not out
Not out
In cricket, a batsman will be not out if he comes out to bat in an innings and has not been dismissed by the end of the innings. One may similarly describe a batsman as not out while the innings is still in progress...
by Neil Harvey
Neil Harvey
Robert Neil Harvey MBE is a former Australian cricketer who represented the Australian cricket team between 1948 and 1963, playing in 79 Test matches. He was the vice-captain of the team from 1957 until his retirement...
, to win the match by five wickets. Australia won the series—Lindsay Hassett
Lindsay Hassett
Arthur Lindsay Hassett MBE was a cricketer who played for Victoria and Australia. The diminutive Hassett was an elegant middle-order batsman, described by Wisden as, "... a master of nearly every stroke ... his superb timing, nimble footwork and strong wrists enabled him to make batting look a...
's first as captain—four Tests to nil.
English cricket team in Australia in 1950-51
Freddie Brown captained the English cricket team in Australia in 1950–51, playing as England in the 1950-51 Ashes series against the Australians and as the MCC in their other matches on the tour. They were regarded as a weak team - some critics wanted to cancel the tour - and failed to regain the...
to compete for the Ashes in a five Test series. Australia won the series four Tests to one; however Wisden reports that while "Australia held a slight superiority ... the difference between the teams was markedly less than revealed by statistics". Johnson had a "mediocre series", taking only seven wickets at an average of 44.42. His best performance was in the Third Test, when he took three wickets in the England first innings. He followed this by scoring 77 runs in a 150 run partnership
Partnership (cricket)
In the sport of cricket, two batsmen always bat in partnership, although only one is on strike at any time. The partnership between two batsmen will come to an end when one of them is dismissed or retires, or the innings comes to a close In the sport of cricket, two batsmen always bat in...
with Keith Miller, who went on to score 145 not out
Not out
In cricket, a batsman will be not out if he comes out to bat in an innings and has not been dismissed by the end of the innings. One may similarly describe a batsman as not out while the innings is still in progress...
. Johnson took another wicket in the English second innings and Australia won the Test by an innings and 13 runs. England's victory in the Fifth Test in Melbourne ended Australia's unbeaten run of 29 Tests since 1938.
The next summer, the West Indian team visited Australia
West Indian cricket team in Australia in 1951-52
The West Indies cricket team toured Australia in the 1951-52 season and played five Test matches against Australia. The series was billed as the "World Championship of cricket", with both teams having beaten England in the previous 18 months...
to play five Tests. The series was billed as the "unofficial cricket championship of the world", following the West Indian victory against England in 1950. However, the Australians won the series comfortably, 4–0. Johnson had another lean series, taking only eight wickets at an average of 32.75.
When the South Africans toured in 1952–53
South African cricket team in Australia in 1952-53
The South Africa national cricket team toured Australia in the 1952-53 season and played 5 Test matches against Australia. The series was drawn 2-2, the first time a rubber between the two sides had not been won by Australia....
, Johnson was selected for Australia ahead of Queenslander Colin McCool
Colin 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...
. His selection was unpopular with a parochial Gabba crowd; when Gil Langley
Gil Langley
Gilbert Roche Andrews "Gil" Langley was an Australian Test cricketer, champion Australian rules footballer and member of parliament, serving as Speaker of the South Australian House of Assembly....
—who had replaced another Queenslander, Don Tallon
Don Tallon
Donald "Don" Tallon was an Australian cricketer who played 21 Test matches as a wicket-keeper between 1946 and 1953...
—fumbled a stumping chance against John Watkins
John Watkins (South African cricketer)
John Cecil Watkins is a former South African cricketer who played in fifteen Tests from 1949 to 1957....
, they cheered loudly. Johnson was omitted from the side for the remainder of the series and was not included in the Australian squad to tour England in 1953
Australian cricket team in England in 1953
The Australian cricket team toured England in the 1953 season to play a five-match Test series against England for The Ashes.England won the final Test to take the series 1-0 after the first four Tests were all drawn. England therefore recovered the Ashes for the first time since losing them in...
.
Selection
Australian rules football
Australian rules football, officially known as Australian football, also called football, Aussie rules or footy is a sport played between two teams of 22 players on either...
matches for local radio station 3AW
3AW
3AW is a talkback radio station in Melbourne, Australia on 693 kHz AM. It began transmission on 22 February 1932 as Melbourne's fifth commercial radio station.-History:...
and writing columns for The Argus
The Argus (Australia)
The Argus was a morning daily newspaper in Melbourne established in 1846 and closed in 1957. Widely known as a conservative newspaper for most of its history, it adopted a left leaning approach from 1949...
newspaper. Later that year, the Victorian Cricket Association
Cricket Victoria
Cricket Victoria is the governing body for the sport of cricket in Victoria. It was formed on 29 September 1875 as the Victorian Cricket Association...
appointed him to succeed the retired Hassett as captain of Victoria. In the middle of the season, at a mutual friend's New Year's Eve
New Year's Eve
New Year's Eve is observed annually on December 31, the final day of any given year in the Gregorian calendar. In modern societies, New Year's Eve is often celebrated at social gatherings, during which participants dance, eat, consume alcoholic beverages, and watch or light fireworks to mark the...
party, Hassett approached Johnson to discuss his form. Taking a confrontational approach, Hassett said to Johnson, "The problem is that you are not getting stuck in. You're not trying." When Johnson protested, Hassett continued "If you have got any brains, you will start taking this game seriously. Because if you do you will end up captaining Australia next year."
The other contender for the vacant national captaincy position was Keith Miller
Keith Miller
Keith Ross Miller MBE was an Australian Test cricketer and a Royal Australian Air Force pilot during World War II. Miller is widely regarded as Australia's greatest ever all-rounder. Because of his ability, irreverent manner and good looks he was a crowd favourite...
, the fast-bowling all-rounder and captain of New South Wales
New South Wales Blues
The New South Wales cricket team are an Australian first class cricket team based in Sydney, New South Wales...
. Miller had led his team to victory in the 1953–54 Sheffield Shield and was recognised as an intuitive captain. Based solely on cricketing merit, Miller, a regular selection at international level, was seen as the superior candidate. However, inter-state rivalries and a perception that Miller would be a poor disciplinarian saw him passed over. This perception was partly based on an incident when Miller, as captain of New South Wales, allowed his team-mate Sid Barnes
Sid Barnes
Sidney George Barnes was an Australian cricketer and cricket writer, who played 13 Test matches between 1938 and 1948. Able to open the innings or bat down the order, Barnes was regarded as one of Australia's finest batsmen in the period immediately following the Second World War...
to serve drinks on the field dressed in a three-piece suit rather than standard cricket whites. Johnson, on the other hand, was part of the cricket establishment: he was an alumnus of the exclusive Wesley College
Wesley College, Melbourne
Wesley College, Melbourne is an independent, co-educational, Christian day school in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Established in 1866, the college is a school of the Uniting Church in Australia. Wesley is the largest school in Australia by enrolment, with 3,511 students and 564 full-time staff...
and the son of a former Test selector. He had also returned to form, taking 37 wickets in the 1953–54 Sheffield Shield—more than any other player—at an average of 16.37. In what cricket writer Dick Whitington speculated was a vote split between the New South Wales and Victorian factions, the Australian Board of Control
Cricket Australia
Cricket Australia, formerly known as the Australian Cricket Board, is the governing body for professional and amateur cricket in Australia. It was originally formed in 1905 as the Australian Board of Control for International Cricket...
appointed Johnson as Australian captain. His appointment was not universally applauded.
Ashes defeat
Johnson's first challenge as captain was the Ashes series against England in 1954–55English cricket team in Australia in 1954-55
Len Hutton captained the English cricket team in Australia in 1954–55, playing as England in the 1954-55 Ashes series against the Australians and as the MCC in their other matches on the tour. It was the first time that an England team had toured Australia under a professional captain since the 1880s...
. In his first match as captain—the First Test at the Gabba in Brisbane
Brisbane
Brisbane is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of over 2 million, and the South East Queensland urban conurbation, centred around Brisbane, encompasses a population of...
—he led his team to victory, defeating England by an innings and 154 runs. It was to be the only Australian victory in the series. Injured, Johnson was unable to play in the Second Test in Sydney. With Miller also injured, Arthur Morris
Arthur Morris
Arthur Robert Morris MBE is a former Australian cricketer who played 46 Test matches between 1946 and 1955. An opener, Morris is regarded as one of Australia's greatest left-handed batsmen. He is best known for his key role in Don Bradman's Invincibles side, which made an undefeated tour of...
was asked to lead the Australian team against an English fast bowling
Fast bowling
Fast bowling, sometimes known as pace bowling, is one of the two main approaches to bowling in the sport of cricket. The other is spin bowling...
attack including Frank Tyson
Frank Tyson
Frank Holmes Tyson is an England cricketer of the 1950s who became a journalist and cricket commentator after he emigrated to Australia in 1960. Nicknamed "Typhoon Tyson" by the press he was regarded by many commentators as one of the fastest bowlers ever seen in cricket and took 76 wickets in...
and Brian Statham
Brian Statham
John Brian "George" Statham, CBE was one of the leading English fast bowlers in 20th-century English cricket. Initially a bowler of a brisk fast-medium pace, Statham was able to remodel his action to generate enough speed to become genuinely fast...
. Tyson, who took ten wickets in the match, was instrumental in England winning the Test by 38 runs. Johnson and Miller returned for the Third Test in Melbourne but were unable to prevent another English victory, this time by 128 runs. The Test was marred by controversy; Melbourne newspaper, The Age
The Age
The Age is a daily broadsheet newspaper, which has been published in Melbourne, Australia since 1854. Owned and published by Fairfax Media, The Age primarily serves Victoria, but is also available for purchase in Tasmania, the Australian Capital Territory and border regions of South Australia and...
, alleged that the pitch
Cricket pitch
In the game of cricket, the cricket pitch consists of the central strip of the cricket field between the wickets - 1 chain or 22 yards long and 10 feet wide. The surface is very flat and normally covered with extremely short grass though this grass is soon removed by wear at the ends of the...
had been watered during the course of the match, in contravention of the laws of cricket
Laws of cricket
The laws of cricket are a set of rules established by the Marylebone Cricket Club which describe the laws of cricket worldwide, to ensure uniformity and fairness. There are currently 42 laws, which outline all aspects of how the game is played from how a team wins a game, how a batsman is...
. Following an enquiry, the Victorian Cricket Association and the Melbourne Cricket Club
Melbourne Cricket Club
The Melbourne Cricket Club is a sporting club based in Melbourne, Australia. It was founded in 1838 and is regarded as the oldest sporting club in Australia....
issued a statement denying any watering of the playing area during the match; however Wisden reported that "large cracks were evident on Saturday yet on Monday these had closed and for a time the surface behaved more kindly to batsmen". Certainly, Johnson felt the pitch had been changed to his disadvantage: "It was like losing the toss twice over". Johnson and Test debutant Len Maddocks
Len Maddocks
Leonard Victor Maddocks is a former Australian cricketer and cricket administrator who played in 7 Tests from 1954 to 1956...
shared a partnership of 54 runs to help Australia fight back in their first innings. Tyson ended the Australian resistance, taking 7/27 in the Australian second innings—England won the match by 128 runs. England won the Fourth Test at Adelaide by five wickets and therefore retained the Ashes. With the Fifth and final Test ending in a draw, England won the series 3–1.
Wisden attributed England's victory to "superb fast bowling by Tyson and Statham [that] turned the scales so that finally the Australian batsmen were completely humbled". Losing three successive Tests saw the selectors of the Australian team subjected to harsh criticism. In the four Tests that Johnson played, he claimed 12 wickets at 20.25 and had a batting average of 58.00—inflated because of a series of not out
Not out
In cricket, a batsman will be not out if he comes out to bat in an innings and has not been dismissed by the end of the innings. One may similarly describe a batsman as not out while the innings is still in progress...
innings; his highest score for the series was 41.
Caribbean success
In March 1955, Johnson led Australia's first Test tour of the West Indies. The Australian Board of Control was concerned about the team's relations with the West Indian public. Against a background of rising anti-colonial feeling and resentment, England's tour of the West Indies the year beforeEnglish cricket team in West Indies in 1953-54
The English Cricket Team in the West Indies in 1953-54 played five Test matches, five other first-class matches and seven other games, three of them on a two-week stop-over in Bermuda that included Christmas....
had been marred by riots and violent disturbances. With the White Australia policy
White Australia policy
The White Australia policy comprises various historical policies that intentionally restricted "non-white" immigration to Australia. From origins at Federation in 1901, the polices were progressively dismantled between 1949-1973....
in place at the time, the Australians feared an unpleasant reception from the Caribbean public. However, the Australian team proved very popular throughout the West Indies; Wisden reported that "much credit belonged to the tact displayed by Ian Johnson, who proved a most able captain". Johnson cultivated a relaxed manner with the locals; in one instance at Sabina Park
Sabina Park
Sabina Park is the home of the Kingston Cricket Club, and is the only Test cricket ground in Kingston, Jamaica and is often referred to as "The Holiday Home of Cricket"....
in Jamaica
Jamaica
Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...
, he stopped to pick up a toddler who had run on to the playing field during the change of innings. Smiling and chatting to the boy, he then carried him safely off the ground. Team mate Alan Davidson
Alan Davidson (cricketer)
Alan Keith Davidson, AM, MBE is a former Australian cricketer of the 1950s and 1960s. He was an all rounder: a hard-hitting lower-order left-handed batsman, and an outstanding left-arm fast-medium opening bowler...
claimed, "Ian did the best PR job of any captain I've ever seen".
Century (cricket)
In the sport of cricket, a batsman reaches his century when he scores 100 or more runs in a single innings. The term is also included in "century partnership" which occurs when two batsmen add 100 runs to the team total when they are batting together. A century is regarded as a landmark score for...
while for the West Indies, Clyde Walcott
Clyde Walcott
Sir Clyde Leopold Walcott, KA, GCM was a West Indian cricketer. Walcott was a member of the "three W's", the other two being Everton Weekes and Frank Worrell: all were very successful batsmen from Barbados, born within a short distance of each other in Bridgetown, Barbados in a period of 18...
alone scored five centuries—including centuries in both innings in the Tests at Sabina Park and Queens Park Oval. Johnson injured his foot while batting during the Sabina Park Test and was unable to bowl or field for the remainder of the match. In his place, Miller led the Australians to a nine-wicket victory. The Second Test at Queens Park Oval was a high scoring draw; Johnson scored 66 runs and took a single wicket. Johnson met with success in the Third Test at Bourda
Bourda
The Bourda is a cricket ground in Georgetown, Guyana, used by the Guyanese cricket team for matches with other nations in the Caribbean as well as some Test matches involving the West Indies. Located in Bourda in Georgetown, Guyana, between Regent Street and North Road, it is home to the Georgetown...
in Georgetown, Guyana
Georgetown, Guyana
Georgetown, estimated population 239,227 , is the capital and largest city of Guyana, located in the Demerara-Mahaica region. It is situated on the Atlantic Ocean coast at the mouth of the Demerara River and it was nicknamed 'Garden City of the Caribbean.' Georgetown is located at . The city serves...
. He took 7/44 in the West Indian second innings—still the best-ever innings analysis by an Australian captain—and Australia won the Test by eight wickets.
A major rift between Johnson and Miller—erstwhile rivals for the Australian captaincy—developed during the Fourth Test, played at Kensington Oval
Kensington Oval
The Kensington Oval is located to the west of the capital-city Bridgetown on the island of Barbados. "The Oval" is one of the major sporting facilities on the island and is primarily used for cricket...
in Barbados
Barbados
Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles. It is in length and as much as in width, amounting to . It is situated in the western area of the North Atlantic and 100 kilometres east of the Windward Islands and the Caribbean Sea; therein, it is about east of the islands of Saint...
. During the third day, Miller, bowling fast-medium swingers
Swing bowling
Swing bowling is a technique used for bowling in the sport of cricket. Practitioners are known as swing bowlers. Swing bowling is generally classed as a subtype of fast bowling.-Physics of swing bowling:...
, had dismissed Everton Weekes
Everton Weekes
Sir Everton DeCourcy Weekes, KCMG, GCM, OBE is a leading former West Indian cricketer. Along with Frank Worrell and Clyde Walcott, he formed what was known as "The Three Ws" of West Indian cricket.-Youth and early career:...
and Collie Smith
Collie Smith
O'Neil Gordon 'Collie' Smith was a West Indian cricketer....
in quick succession to leave the West Indies at 6/147 with Denis Atkinson
Denis Atkinson
Denis St Eval Atkinson was a West Indian cricketer who played 22 Test matches as an all-rounder, hitting 922 runs and taking 47 wickets. He also played first-class cricket for Barbados and Trinidad...
and Clairmonte Depeiaza
Clairmonte Depeiaza
Cyril Clairmonte Depeiaza was a West Indian cricketer.A wicket keeper, Depeiza played in the Barbados Cricket League....
batting. Johnson, thinking that the two batsmen would be vulnerable to express pace, asked Miller to increase his bowling speed. When Miller refused, Johnson remonstrated with him: "I'll say who bowls and what they bowl". With Miller refusing to bowl as directed, Johnson replaced him in the attack with Ray Lindwall. Walking off the field at the end of the day's play and continuing in the dressing room, Miller provoked Johnson, telling him he "couldn't captain a team of schoolboys", among other insults. Finally Johnson responded, asking "If you want to go on like that why don't we go around the back and thrash it out?" The much larger Miller declined the offer and the pair travelled back to the team hotel together. The next day, Atkinson and Depeiaza batted throughout the entire day's play. Their partnership of 347 runs for the seventh wicket is still a world record.
In the Fifth and final Test, the Australians scored 758 runs in their only innings—including maiden Test centuries for Benaud and Ron Archer
Ron Archer
This article is about the cricket player. For Ron Archer see Ted WhiteRonald Graham Archer was an Australian Test cricketer who was born in Highgate Hill, Queensland...
, centuries for Miller and Colin McDonald, and a double century for Neil Harvey—to win the match by an innings and 83 runs.
Overall, despite the team's victory in the series, Johnson's on-field contribution was inconsistent. While he took 14 wickets in the Test series, seven came in just one innings. His inconsistent form saw internal team tensions develop over whether his place in the team was justified; Wisden claimed that "some malcontents called him 'myxomatosis
Myxomatosis
Myxomatosis is a disease that affects rabbits and is caused by the Myxoma virus. It was first observed in Uruguay in laboratory rabbits in the late 19th century. It was introduced into Australia in 1950 in an attempt to control the rabbit population...
' because he only bowled when the rabbits were in".
Donald Bradman wrote to Prime Minister Robert Menzies
Robert Menzies
Sir Robert Gordon Menzies, , Australian politician, was the 12th and longest-serving Prime Minister of Australia....
after the tour, recommending an honour for Johnson in recognition of his contribution to the tour's success. The next year, both Johnson and Miller were appointed as Members of the Order of the British Empire
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
(MBE).
"Lakered"
Johnson led his Australian team to England in 1956Australian cricket team in England in 1956
The Australian cricket team toured England in the 1956 season to play a five-match Test series against England for The Ashes.England won the series 2-1 with 2 matches drawn and therefore retained The Ashes....
. The team's visit to England coincided with what was described by Wisden as "the wettest of all summers in memory". The poor weather gave the Australian team little chance to develop their confidence and Johnson used the early matches of the tour to allow his batsmen and bowlers to experiment in the unfamiliar conditions. In one of these early matches, Surrey
Surrey County Cricket Club
Surrey County Cricket Club is one of the 18 professional county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Surrey. Its limited overs team is called the Surrey Lions...
defeated Australia by ten wickets; the first time Australia had lost to county opposition since 1912. In parallel with later events in the Old Trafford Test, off-spinner Jim Laker
Jim Laker
James "Jim" Charles Laker was a cricketer who played for England in the 1950s, known for "Laker's match" in 1956 at Old Trafford, when he took nineteen wickets in England's victory against Australia...
took all ten wickets in the Australian first innings; Laker and left-arm spinner Tony Lock
Tony Lock
Graham Anthony Richard Lock was an English cricketer, who played primarily as a left-arm spinner. He played in forty nine Tests for England taking 174 wickets at 25.58 each.-Life and career:...
took 19 of the 20 Australian wickets that fell in the match. While Johnson was successful with the ball, taking 6 wickets for 168; his preconceived tactics saw him allow Lindwall—his main fast bowler—only two overs in Surrey's first innings and attempt to turn Alan Davidson into a spin bowler. Cricket writer Ray Robinson
Ray Robinson (cricket writer)
Raymond John Robinson was an Australian journalist and author, best known for his writings on the sport of cricket. Born in Melbourne, Robinson attended Brighton State school and joined the Melbourne's The Herald as a copyboy. Given a cadetship with the paper, he reported on Australian football...
said of Johnson's tactics throughout the tour, "I have not met one good cricketer or cricket judge who is not mystified by them". The manner of this loss severely dented Australia's confidence against spin for the remainder of the tour.
The First Test, at Nottingham
Nottingham
Nottingham is a city and unitary authority in the East Midlands of England. It is located in the ceremonial county of Nottinghamshire and represents one of eight members of the English Core Cities Group...
, was affected by rain and, despite England declaring
Declaration and forfeiture
In the sport of cricket a declaration occurs when a captain declares his team's innings closed and a forfeiture is when a captain chooses to forfeit an innings. Declaration and forfeiture are covered in Law 14 of the Laws of cricket...
twice, the match ended in a draw. Injuries to Lindwall and Davidson meant an under-strength Australian team was forced to take the field in the Second Test at Lord's. In what Wisden described as a "triumph of teamwork", the Australians won the match by 185 runs. Johnson was unlucky to lose the toss in the Third Test at Leeds, because Lock and Laker were able to take maximum advantage of a pitch conducive to spin. The duo took 18 of the 20 Australian wickets and England won the match by an innings and 42 runs.
The Fourth Test at Manchester proved controversial. The Old Trafford pitch had little grass, perhaps as a result of earlier wet weather. Again, Johnson lost the toss and England chose to bat first. Johnson and his spinning partner, Richie Benaud
Richie Benaud
Richard "Richie" Benaud OBE is a former Australian cricketer who, since his retirement from international cricket in 1964, has become a highly regarded commentator on the game....
were unable to exploit the spin-friendly conditions and the English made 459 runs. In reply, the Australians could not come to grips with the conditions; Laker took nine of the ten wickets, Lock the other, as Australia were brushed away for just 84. Amid wild weather, the Australians were asked to follow-on
Follow-on
Follow-on is a term used in the sport of cricket to describe a situation where the team that bats second is forced to take its second batting innings immediately after its first, because the team was not able to get close enough to the score achieved by the first team batting in the first innings...
. A determined batting performance was not enough to prevent an English victory by an innings and 170 runs. Laker's performance was historic. He took 10/53, the first time in a Test match a bowler had taken all ten wickets in an innings. With his 9/37 in the first innings, he had captured 19 wickets for the match, still a world record in first-class cricket. Wisden reported that the Australians were "extremely bitter over the condition of the pitch". Former Test cricketer and journalist Bill O'Reilly
Bill O'Reilly (cricketer)
William Joseph "Bill" O'Reilly , often known as Tiger O'Reilly, was an Australian cricketer, rated as one of the greatest bowlers in the history of the game. Following his retirement from playing, he became a well-respected cricket writer and broadcaster.O'Reilly was one of the best spin bowlers to...
wrote "This pitch is a complete disgrace" while Colin McDonald later said, "England cheated: if by cheating you include the practise of preparing wickets to suit your own purpose." Johnson was generous towards the victors. Playing down the discontent felt by the Australians, he said: "When the controversy and side issues of the match are forgotten, Laker's wonderful bowling will remain." The media reported that Australia had been "Lakered".
The Fifth and final Test was drawn and Australia lost the series two Tests to one. Australia had now lost three Ashes series in a row, the last two with Johnson as captain. His own form was modest; he took only six wickets in the Tests at an average of over 50 runs per wicket. His performance with the bat was worse, scoring just 61 runs at an average of only 7.62. Once again, Johnson's place in the team was questioned. Acerbic cricket pundit Sid Barnes
Sid Barnes
Sidney George Barnes was an Australian cricketer and cricket writer, who played 13 Test matches between 1938 and 1948. Able to open the innings or bat down the order, Barnes was regarded as one of Australia's finest batsmen in the period immediately following the Second World War...
—a former team mate—joked that Johnson was "Australia's non-playing captain". Bill Ferguson, the Australian team's scorer, was also critical: "Had Johnson been told by his friends in the press that he was, in fact, a passenger, he might have pondered on the advisability of standing down. [...] There would have been no shame in standing down." Writing after the tour, Miller—a tour selector—stated "Privately I thought that [Johnson] was not a form selection. On the other hand, I did not think it wise to change skippers in midstream."
Home and retirement
On the return journey from England, the Australians toured IndiaIndia
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
and Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
for the first time, with mixed results. On a matting pitch
Cricket pitch
In the game of cricket, the cricket pitch consists of the central strip of the cricket field between the wickets - 1 chain or 22 yards long and 10 feet wide. The surface is very flat and normally covered with extremely short grass though this grass is soon removed by wear at the ends of the...
, unfamiliar to the Australians, Johnson's team lost the inaugural Test against Pakistan at Karachi
Karachi
Karachi is the largest city, main seaport and the main financial centre of Pakistan, as well as the capital of the province of Sindh. The city has an estimated population of 13 to 15 million, while the total metropolitan area has a population of over 18 million...
. Responding to the loss, a cartoon drawn by Norman Mitchell of the Adelaide News
The News (Adelaide)
The News was an afternoon daily tabloid newspaper in the city of Adelaide, South Australia.The newspaper was established in 1869 as the Evening Journal. In 1933, a controlling stake was taken by The Advertiser, controlled by the Herald and Weekly Times. HWT sold off The News in 1949, and Sir Keith...
newspaper suggested island planters might be able to scrape together a team that would be a match for the Australians. Returning to turf pitches in India, the Australians restored some pride. Johnson was the highest scorer in the Australian team's victory by an innings and five runs in the First Test at Nehru Stadium
Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Chennai
The Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium is a Chennai stadium and seats 40,000. It hosts football , and athletic competitions. The complex also houses a multi purpose indoor stadium with a seating capacity of 8000 which hosts volleyball, basket ball, table tennis etc. The stadium is named after Jawaharlal...
in Madras
Chennai
Chennai , formerly known as Madras or Madarasapatinam , is the capital city of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, located on the Coromandel Coast off the Bay of Bengal. Chennai is the fourth most populous metropolitan area and the sixth most populous city in India...
. Due to injury, both Johnson and Miller missed the drawn Second Test at Brabourne Stadium
Brabourne Stadium
The Brabourne Stadium is a cricket ground in the Indian city of Mumbai. It is located on 90,000 square yards of reclaimed land along Marine Drive near Churchgate railway station in South Mumbai. The stadium is owned by the Cricket Club of India . Brabourne Stadium is India's first permanent...
at Bombay
Mumbai
Mumbai , formerly known as Bombay in English, is the capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the most populous city in India, and the fourth most populous city in the world, with a total metropolitan area population of approximately 20.5 million...
; Lindwall skippered the side. Johnson returned for the Third Test at Eden Gardens
Eden Gardens
Eden Gardens is a cricket ground in Kolkata , India. It is the home of the Bengal cricket team and the Indian Premier League's Kolkata Knight Riders, as well as being a Test and One Day International ground. It is the largest cricket stadium in India by seating capacity...
, Calcutta
Kolkata
Kolkata , formerly known as Calcutta, is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal. Located on the east bank of the Hooghly River, it was the commercial capital of East India...
for what would ultimately prove to be his final Test. The Australians won the match by 94 runs, giving them a 2–0 series win. S. K. Gurunathan
S. K. Gurunathan
S. K. Gurunathan, , was a sports journalist and one of the pioneers of cricket statistics in India.Gurunathan started his journalistic career in the advertisement section of the Hindu in 1928. He became a reporter in 1938 and from 1958 till his death, was the sports editor...
, summing up in the Indian Cricket Almanack
Indian Cricket (annual)
Indian Cricket was a cricket yearbook published by The Hindu from 1946–47 to 2004. There was no 2003 issue and so there are 57 editions in all. During most of its run it was the principal annual of its kind in India...
, wrote: "The Australians showed themselves to be a superior side even when their batting failed".
When the team finally arrived home, Johnson announced his retirement from all cricket at the age of 39. In all, he played 45 Tests, capturing 109 wickets at an average of 29.19, including three five-wicket hauls. He scored exactly 1,000 runs, making him one of only eleven Australians to achieve the double
Double (cricket)
A cricketer is said to achieve the double if he scores a thousand or more runs and also takes a hundred or more wickets in first-class matches during the course of a single season. The feat is extremely rare outside England because of the smaller number of first-class matches played in most other...
of 1,000 runs and 100 wickets in Test cricket. In all first-class cricket, Johnson had taken 619 wickets and scored 4,905 runs.
His record as the Australian captain was mixed; he had captained Australia in 17 Tests, winning seven and losing five. However, he was better known as the first captain to lead Australia to successive Ashes defeats in the 20th century. Reviewing Johnson's time as captain, Wisden said, "Unfortunately for him, he took over in the mid-1950s, when Australian cricket was decidedly inferior to England's for the first time since before the Bradman era" but "he was a fine cricketer and, in some respects, a visionary".
Personal life
In 1942, aged 24, Johnson married 19-year-old Lal Park, the daughter of former Test cricketer, Dr Roy ParkRoy Park (sportsman)
Dr Roy Lindsay Park was an all-round athlete and doctor. He played cricket for Australia and also Australian rules football in the Victorian Football League . He was educated at Wesley College, Melbourne...
. They were married for 56 years and had two sons, Bill and Bob. After the war, when cricket commitments allowed, Johnson worked as a salesman. Immediately following his retirement, Johnson spent some time as one of the first television sporting commentators in Australia, covering the 1956 Summer Olympics
1956 Summer Olympics
The 1956 Melbourne Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XVI Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event which was held in Melbourne, Australia, in 1956, with the exception of the equestrian events, which could not be held in Australia due to quarantine regulations...
, held in his home town of Melbourne. He wrote a book; Cricket at the crossroads, published in 1957.
The following year, Johnson was chosen from a group of 44 candidates for the position of secretary of the Melbourne Cricket Club
Melbourne Cricket Club
The Melbourne Cricket Club is a sporting club based in Melbourne, Australia. It was founded in 1838 and is regarded as the oldest sporting club in Australia....
. The position—previously held by Test cricketers Hugh Trumble
Hugh Trumble
Hugh Trumble was an Australian cricketer who played 32 Test matches as a bowling all-rounder between 1890 and 1904. He captained the Australian team in two Tests, winning both. Trumble took 141 wickets in Test cricket—a world record at the time of his retirement—at an average of...
and Vernon Ransford
Vernon Ransford
Vernon Seymour Ransford was an Australian cricketer who played in 20 Tests between 1907 and 1912. His best series was the 1909 tour of England when he topped the Australian batting averages, helped by a career best score of 143 not out. The following year he was a Wisden Cricketer of the Year...
—is one of the most prestigious jobs in Australian cricket. During a time of "dramatic change", he helped to maintain the Melbourne Cricket Ground's ("MCG") pre-eminence as a sporting arena. Johnson managed the club and the ground through some major redevelopment, keeping a balance between the competing interests of Australian rules football
Australian rules football
Australian rules football, officially known as Australian football, also called football, Aussie rules or footy is a sport played between two teams of 22 players on either...
and cricket. For services to sports administration, he was appointed an Officer in the Order of the British Empire
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
(OBE) in 1976. He played a leading part in organising the Centenary Test, held at the MCG in 1977.
For 20 years, he served as a member of the Victorian state Parole board
Parole Board
A parole board is a panel of people who decide whether an offender should be released from prison on parole after serving at least a minimum portion of their sentence as prescribed by the sentencing judge. Parole boards are used in many jurisdictions, including the United Kingdom and the United...
. After serving Melbourne Cricket Club for 26 years, he retired to spend more time at his home in the southern Melbourne suburb of Albert Park
Albert Park, Victoria
Albert Park is an inner city suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 3 km south from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area is the City of Port Phillip. At the 2006 Census, Albert Park had a population of 5827....
and his holiday house in Torquay
Torquay, Victoria
Torquay is a township in Victoria, Australia, which faces Bass Strait, 21 km. south of Geelong and is the gateway to the Great Ocean Road. It is bordered on the west by Spring Creek and its coastal features include Point Danger and Zeally Bay...
. In 1982, his OBE was upgraded, when he was appointed a Commander in the Order of the British Empire
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
(CBE) for services to cricket. He died in Melbourne in 1998 following a long illness.
Style and personality
Unusually for an Australian, Johnson bowled off-spin rather than the wrist spinWrist spin
Wrist spin is a type of bowling in the sport of cricket. It refers to the cricket technique and specific hand movements associated with imparting a particular direction of spin to the cricket ball...
normally associated with countrymen of his day. Johnson had an atypical bowling action, with a "rather staccato swing" of his bowling arm. He bowled with a high degree of flight
Flight (cricket)
Flight, also known as Loop, is a description of a kind of delivery in cricket, when a bowler makes the ball rise above eyeline, before it descends once again on its trajectory towards the batsman.Flight is a key weapon of spin bowlers...
, causing opposing batsmen difficulties in judging where the ball would land. Making intelligent use of the wind, Johnson was able to make his deliveries float away from the batsman, changing from his standard off-break. According to E. W. Swanton
E. W. Swanton
Ernest William Swanton CBE is chiefly known for being a cricket writer and commentator under his initials, E. W. Swanton. He worked as a sports journalist for The Daily Telegraph and as a broadcaster for BBC Radio for 30 years. He was a regular commentator on Test Match Special, easily recognised...
, Johnson was "probably the slowest bowler to achieve any measure of success in Test cricket". His action was compared to a corkscrew; writer Ray Robinson saying that "to coax turn from firm Australian pitches he twisted the ball almost hard enough to screw a doorknob off". There were doubts about the legality of his bowling action; his English rival, Trevor Bailey
Trevor Bailey
Trevor Edward Bailey CBE was an England Test cricketer, cricket writer and broadcaster.An all-rounder, Bailey was known for his skilful but unspectacular batting...
claimed Johnson threw
Throwing (cricket)
In the sport of cricket, throwing, commonly referred to as chucking, is an illegal bowling action which occurs when a bowler straightens their arm when delivering the ball. The Laws of Cricket specify that a bowler's arm must be fully extended and rotated about the shoulder to impart velocity to...
every delivery. Johnson was never no-balled for throwing, having played cricket in front of umpires from Australia, England, New Zealand, South Africa, the West Indies, India and Pakistan.
Jack Pollard
Jack Pollard
Jack Ernest Pollard OAM was an Australian sports journalist, writer and cricket historian.-Early life:Born in Sydney, New South Wales on 31 July 1926, Pollard began his journalism career in 1943 as a copy boy at Sydney's Daily Telegraph newspaper...
described Johnson as a "dour middle order batsman". He had a sound defence and when necessary could hit the ball with power. Bradman was full of praise for Johnson's batting after the Invincibles tour in 1948: "Splendid batsman—most valuable about number 7", also describing him as a "very good slip field".
Ian Craig
Ian David Craig is a former Australian Test cricketer who represented Australia in 11 Tests between 1953 and 1958. A slightly built right-handed batsman, Craig holds the record for being the youngest Australian to make a first-class double century, gain Test selection and captain his country...
—his successor as Australian captain—was critical of Johnson's attitude during the 1956 tour of England: "I don't think [Johnson] was ever realistic about the situation. [...] I supposed he felt obliged to make rallying speeches, but the team knew what was going on." Pat Crawford
Pat Crawford
William Patrick Anthony Crawford was an Australian cricketer who played in four Tests, including one in England at Lord's in 1956 and three in India in 1956–57...
felt "Johnson couldn't get anything out of the players, whereas the guys would have busted a gut for [Miller]". He was seen by some of his team mates as "dictatorial" with Benaud and Harvey particularly resenting Johnson's insistence on the entire touring party attending every lead-in match before 1956 Test series in England.
Johnson was sportsmanlike; on one occasion in South Africa, when Eastern Province
Eastern Province cricket team
Eastern Province cricket team is the team representing the Eastern Province in domestic first-class cricket in South Africa.-Honours:* Currie Cup - 1988–89, 1991–92; shared - 1989–90* Standard Bank Cup - 1989–90, 1991–92...
batsman Ray Connell was bowled after the ball deflected from his head, Johnson replaced the bails
Bail (cricket)
In the sport of cricket, a bail is one of the two smaller sticks placed on top of the three stumps to form a wicket. The bails are used to determine when the wicket is broken, which in turn is one of the critical factors in determining whether a batsman is out bowled, stumped, run out or hit wicket...
, allowing him to continue batting. During the Adelaide Test in 1950–51 he "walked", ensuring that the unlucky John Warr
John Warr
John James Warr is an English former cricketer. He played in two Test matches for England.His Test bowling average remains the worst of any English player, but Warr turned it into comic relief in his highly humorous after dinner speeches.-Life and career:He played for Middlesex as a right-arm...
took at least one wicket for the series. Johnson was not above some gamesmanship, resorting to time-wasting tactics to avoid defeat in the final Test of the 1956 series against England. He was willing to have some fun on occasion; when in the West Indies he convinced a local pilot to allow him to fly the plane carrying the Australian team between Trinidad and nearby Tobago
Tobago
Tobago is the smaller of the two main islands that make up the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. It is located in the southern Caribbean, northeast of the island of Trinidad and southeast of Grenada. The island lies outside the hurricane belt...
, to the later displeasure of the Australian Board of Control.
Normally diplomatic, in a newspaper article in South Africa, Johnson was blunt with his hosts about race relations in the country: "I am certain that the average man-in-the-street avoids the problem too much for, at the moment, you're living in a fool's paradise". Urbane, courteous and popular with opposition players and spectators, Colin Cowdrey
Colin Cowdrey
Michael Colin Cowdrey, Baron Cowdrey of Tonbridge, CBE , better known as Colin Cowdrey, was the Captain of Oxford University, Kent County Cricket Club and the England cricket team in a career that lasted from 1950 to 1976...
described Johnson as "an astute leader and fine ambassador for cricket".
Test match performance
| Batting | Bowling | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Opposition | Matches | Runs | Average | High Score | 100 / 50 | Runs | Wickets | Average | Best (Inns) |
| England | 22 | 485 | 16.72 | 77 | 0/2 | 1590 | 42 | 37.85 | 6/42 |
| India | 6 | 124 | 15.50 | 73 | 0/1 | 339 | 19 | 17.84 | 4/35 |
| New Zealand | 1 | 7 | 7.00 | 7 | 0/0 | – | – | – | – |
| Pakistan | 1 | 13 | 13.00 | 13 | 0/0 | 66 | 4 | 16.50 | 4/50 |
| South Africa | 6 | 117 | 19.50 | 66 | 0/1 | 519 | 22 | 23.59 | 5/34 |
| West Indies | 9 | 254 | 25.40 | 66 | 0/2 | 668 | 22 | 30.36 | 7/44 |
| Overall | 45 | 1000 | 18.51 | 77 | 0/6 | 3182 | 109 | 29.19 | 7/44 |