Johnny Briggs

Who was Johnny Briggs?

Johnny Briggs was a left arm spin bowler for Lancashire County Cricket Club between 1879 and 1900 who still stands as the second-highest wicket-taker in the county's history after Brian Statham. In the early days of Test cricket, Briggs was one of the most successful bowlers, proving deadly whenever wickets were affected by rain, whilst both for his county and country his batting – though at times too careless – was very useful. He was the first bowler in Test cricket to take 100 wickets, and held the record of most wickets in Test cricket on two occasions, the first in 1895 and again from 1898 until 1904, when he was succeeded by Hugh Trumble. He toured Australia a record six times, a feat only equalled by Colin Cowdrey.

Briggs was a notably short man at about five feet five or 165 centimetres. Briggs’ skill lay in his ability to vary the flight and pace of the ball as well as in achieving prodigious spin on the primitive pitches of the nineteenth century. As a batsman, Briggs was capable of hitting very effectively, but as time went by an eagerness to punish every ball set in and led to a decline.