Johnny Wardle

Infobox Historic Cricketer


nationality = English
country = England
country abbrev = Eng
name = Johnny Wardle
picture = Cricket_no_pic.pngbatting style = Left-handed batsman (LHB)
bowling style = Slow left-arm orthodox (SLA); Slow left-arm chinaman (SLC)
tests = 28
test runs = 653
test bat avg = 19.78
test 100s/50s = 0/2
test top score = 66
test balls = 6,597
test wickets = 102
test bowl avg = 20.39
test 5s = 5
test 10s = 1
test best bowling = 7/36
test catches/stumpings = 12/0
FCs = 412
FC runs = 7,333
FC bat avg = 16.08
FC 100s/50s = 0/18
FC top score = 79
FC balls = 102,626
FC wickets = 1,846
FC bowl avg = 18.97
FC 5s = 134
FC 10s = 29
FC best bowling = 9/25
FC catches/stumpings = 257/0
debut date = February 11
debut year = 1948
last date = June 22
last year = 1957
source = http://www.cricketarchive.co.uk/Archive/Players/0/820/820.html

Johnny Wardle (John Henry Wardle; born January 8, 1923, Ardsley, South Yorkshire, England; died: July 23 1985, Hatfield, Doncaster, Yorkshire, England) was one of the best spin bowlers in postwar cricket. His Test average of 20.39 is the lowest in Test cricket by any major spin bowler in the last seventy years.

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 remarkable originality and amazingly accurate and steady work. On firm pitches, his ability to bowl left-arm wrist spinners that turned and bounced much more sharply made him preferred over Tony Lock in his heyday. Wardle is the "only" English bowler to master this unusual style, and it gave him many of his greatest successes, notably in South Africa in 1956/1957 where he achieved the astonishing feat of taking 100 wickets in a season outside England. 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.

Wardle, whose family were miners, took to cricket during World War II 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 was killed in the war. Wardle only played one match in 1946 as the 43-year-old Arthur Booth's remarkable economy saw him head the averages, but when Booth went ill Wardle took his place with so much promise that, in spite of a very dry summer, he was chosen for a largely experimental MCC tour of the West Indies. He was disappointing on that tour, but his skill developed so well in the wet summer of 1948 that it was obvious Wardle was earmarked for Test honours. 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 run for the title - which only just failed.

1950 saw him play in a home Test for the first time but apart from some free hitting against Ramadhin and Valentine whose deadly accurate and amazingly persistent spin bowling routed England, he did nothing. Nonetheless, with Yorkshire's bowling not nearly so strong as in the days of Bowes and Verity, Wardle's amazing 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 unparalleled accuracy when bowling "off theory" round the wicket.

1951 saw Wardle unsuccessful in challenging Jim Laker and Roy Tattersall for a Test spin bowling place, but with Bob Appleyard hit by illness Wardle's workrate reached incredible levels in the following two seasons: his total of "20,723 balls" in these two seasons has been beaten only by Tich Freeman, and his 11,084 balls in 1952 is the fourth-highest aggregate ever delivered. During August 1952, Wardle sent down 165 overs in two consecutive games. Though Yorkshire had an astonishing decline in 1953, Wardle at last showed himself a Test-standard bowler with 4 for 7 on a soft pitch at Old Trafford and for this performance was named a "Wisden Cricketer of the Year" and toured the West Indies again. The competition from Laker and Lock, though, gave him little chance to distinguish himself, though in two innings of 39 and 66 he showed the virtue in hitting against Ramadhin and Valentine.

1954, with Trueman and Appleyard back in the team, saw Yorkshire rebound and Wardle freed to become an enterprising attacking spinner once more. In this role, he took 16 wickets against Sussex and bowled so well against Pakistan that he toured Australia with Len Hutton's MCC side that winter. Apart from five for 79 on a flood-soaked pitch at Sydney he had to do little, but his use of left-arm off-breaks and googlies the following summer allowed Wardle to succeed so consistently that he almost reached 200 wickets and took 15 Test wickets. In the wet summer of 1956 Lock was preferred, but Wardle, chiefly bowling wrist-spin with surprising accuracy, baffled all the South African batsmen that winter on pitches giving him little help. In the second Test at Cape Town he reached astonishing heights, taking 7 for 36 to dismiss South Africa for 72, and would have taken more than 26 Test wickets but for injury.

1957, after this, was a very disappointing year, with Wardle's amazing workrate finally appearing to decline, and Lock tightening his grip on the Test place for good after Wardle failed at Lord's. Though in the favourable conditions of 1958 Wardle was very successful, friction between him and the Yorkshire committee, which had existed for many years prior to this point, became intolerable when Wardle announced he would write an article in "The Daily Mail" that was openly critical of the running of the Yorkshire County Cricket Club. Although MCC had chosen Wardle for the coming Ashes tour, they withdrew immediately Wardle made this announcement, and Yorkshire responded by dropping Wardle for the Bank Holiday match with Lancashire. They never recalled him, and when Wardle announced he would play for struggling Nottinghamshire Yorkshire steadfastly refused to allow Special Registration.

Consequently, Wardle played the rest of his cricket as a professional in the Lancashire Leagues and with Cambridgeshire in the Minor Counties Championship. Even if he might not have been the bowler he had been a few years before, he was still so far ahead in class of most batsmen in those competitions that he set many records for wicket aggregates. Wardle also was an amateur cartoonist of considerable repute during these years. He died after a long period of failing health in July 1985.

External links

* [http://www.cricketarchive.co.uk/Archive/Players/0/820/t_Bowling_by_Season.html Test bowling]
* [http://www.cricketarchive.co.uk/Archive/Players/0/820/f_Bowling_by_Season.html First-class bowling]