Johnny Wardle

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Johnny Wardle
Left-arm unorthodox
International information
National side
Test debut (cap 333)11 February 1948 v West Indies
Last Test20 June 1957 v West Indies
Domestic team information
YearsTeam
1946–1958Yorkshire
Career statistics
Competition Test First-class
Matches 28 412
Runs scored 653 7,333
Batting average 19.78 16.08
100s/50s 0/2 0/18
Top score 66 79
Balls bowled 6,597 102,626
Wickets 102 1,846
Bowling average 20.39 18.97
5 wickets in innings 5 134
10 wickets in match 1 29
Best bowling 7/36 9/25
Catches/stumpings 12/– 257/–
Source: CricketArchive, 2 March 2020

Johnny Wardle (8 January 1923 – 23 July 1985)

First World War.[1]

Wardle played for Yorkshire, England, and later for Cambridgeshire.[1]

Life and career

John Henry Wardle was born in

Wath Grammar School from age 11 to 15.[3]

Wardle, though mainly a classical orthodox left-arm finger-spinner, was probably the most versatile of all the great spin bowlers, and he was capable both of originality and accuracy. His ability to bowl left-arm wrist spinners that turned and bounced much more sharply, made him preferred over

slow left-arm wrist-spin and did so at the highest level.[1]

Wardle was also a dangerous left-handed hitter, whose stocky build permitted him to drive powerfully. Often his hitting against opposing spinners suggested that the defensive batting so characteristic of 1950s and 1960s first-class cricket was not the most effective method of play.[citation needed]

Wardle, whose family were miners, took to cricket during the

Second World War and was so successful as a spin bowler and hard-hitting batsman that Yorkshire engaged him when looking for a successor to Hedley Verity, who had been killed in the war. Wardle only played one match in 1946, when the 43-year-old Arthur Booth's economy rate saw him head the averages, but when Booth fell ill with arthritis, Wardle took his place. In spite of a dry summer in 1947, Wardle was chosen for a largely experimental, Gubby Allen-led, Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) tour of the West Indies.[1] He was disappointing on that tour, but his skill developed in the wet summer of the following year. Though an injury wiped out a quarter of his 1949 season, Wardle was deadly on the few rain-affected pitches that summer, and his bowling helped Yorkshire to make a late, albeit unsuccessful, tilt at the County Championship
title.

1950 saw him play in a home Test for the first time, but apart from some free hitting against Ramadhin and Valentine, whose spin bowling routed England, he did little of note. Nonetheless, with Yorkshire's bowling not nearly so strong as in the days of Bowes and Verity, Wardle's capacity for hard work revealed itself fully for the first time: he bowled more balls than any bowler since Tich Freeman in 1934, and his 741 maidens showed his accuracy. His 172 wickets that season was Wardle's career best return.[3]

Old Trafford, and he was named one of the Wisden Cricketers of the Year, and he toured the West Indies again. The competition from Laker and Lock, though, gave him little chance to distinguish himself, although in two innings of 39 and 66, he showed the virtue in hitting against Ramadhin and Valentine. The latter innings were of real consequence as Wardle, batting with Len Hutton, put on 105 for the seventh wicket which heralded a series-saving victory for England.[3]

By

South African batsmen that winter on pitches giving him little help. In the second Test at Newlands Cricket Ground, Cape Town, he took 7 for 36 to dismiss South Africa for 72, and may have taken more than 26 Test wickets but for injury. On that tour, Wardle claimed 90 first-class wickets at 12 runs apiece.[1]

Ashes tour, they withdrew immediately. Wardle made this announcement, and Yorkshire responded by dropping Wardle for the Roses Match with Lancashire.[1][3] They never recalled him, and when Wardle announced he would play for Nottinghamshire
, Yorkshire steadfastly refused to allow special registration.

Wardle was big enough to admit his troubles were largely of his own making, and any ill feelings on his part was forgotten when he helped Yorkshire and England off-spinner Geoff Cope to iron out the problems in his action, which had occasionally had him 'called' for throwing.

Wardle's autobiography, Happy Go Johnny, was published in 1957.[3]

Consequently, Wardle played the rest of his cricket as a professional in the

Minor Counties Championship.[3]

Yorkshire and the MCC both tried to atone by making Wardle an honorary life member, and he took up managing a country club near Doncaster.[1][3]

Johnny Wardle died, after never recovering from an operation on a

brain tumour, in Hatfield, Doncaster, Yorkshire, in July 1985, at the age of 62.[3]

A biography, Johnny Wardle: Cricket Conjuror (

ISBN 978-0715390535), by Alan Hill, was published in 1988.[4]

References

  1. ^
    ISBN 1-869833-21-X
    .
  2. ^ "Cricket Profiel Johnny Wardle". Sky Sports. Retrieved 11 May 2021.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wisden. "Johnny Wardle". Espncricinfo. Retrieved 30 April 2011.
  4. ^ Wisden 1989, p. 1248.
Preceded by Nelson Cricket Club
Professional
1959–1962 		Succeeded by
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