Hophnie Hobah Hines Johnson (13 July 1910 – 24 June 1987) was a
West Indian international cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by str ...
er. His first-class cricket career began with his debut for
Jamaica
Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...
in 1935 and lasted until 1951, interrupted by the Second World War. Making his international debut at the age of 37, his Test career lasted just three matches. All three were against England, and the last was in
1950
Events January
* January 1 – The International Police Association (IPA) – the largest police organization in the world – is formed.
* January 5 – Sverdlovsk plane crash: ''Aeroflot'' Lisunov Li-2 crashes in a snowstorm. All 19 ...
. During his first Test Match, Johnson took
five wickets in the first innings and five in the second.
He was the first fast bowler to take
ten wickets in a single Test for the West Indies, and held the record for best bowling figures by a West Indies player on debut until his 10/97 was bettered by spin bowler
Alf Valentine
Alfred Louis Valentine (28 April 1930 – 11 May 2004) was a West Indian cricketer in the 1950s and 1960s. He is most famous for his performance in the West Indies' 1950 tour of England, which was immortalised in the ''Victory Calypso''.
The 19 ...
. Johnson was 40 years old when he played his final Test.
Career
Johnson made his first-class debut on 9 March 1935, at the age of 24, playing for Jamaica against the touring Marylebone Cricket Club. In a first-class career which lasted until 1952, he played 28 first-class matches, ten for Jamaica. Three of matches were Tests, and a further fifteen were representing the West Indies on tour outside international matches. He played six first-class matches between 1935 and 1939, all for Jamaica because organised cricket in the region was interrupted by the outbreak of the Second World War.
In 1947–48, the
Marylebone Cricket Club
Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) is a cricket club founded in 1787 and based since 1814 at Lord's Cricket Ground, which it owns, in St John's Wood, London. The club was formerly the governing body of cricket retaining considerable global influence ...
under the captaincy of
Gubby Allen
Sir George Oswald Browning "Gubby" Allen CBE (31 July 190229 November 1989) was a cricketer who captained England in eleven Test matches. In first-class matches, he played for Middlesex and Cambridge University. A fast bowler and hard-hittin ...
toured the West Indies, and as England played four Tests against the West Indies. Though the West Indies used three different captain, they won the Test series 2–0 and outplayed England, prompting
Norman Preston
Norman Preston, MBE (18 March 1903 – 6 March 1980) was an English cricket journalist.
He began his career with the old Pardon's Cricket Reporting Agency in 1933 and served on three overseas tours as Reuters' correspondent. He succeeded h ...
to comment in
Wisden
''Wisden Cricketers' Almanack'', or simply ''Wisden'', colloquially the Bible of Cricket, is a cricket reference book published annually in the United Kingdom. The description "bible of cricket" was first used in the 1930s by Alec Waugh in a ...
that "There was no question that West Indies deserved their triumph. On current form they must be the strongest cricketing body apart from Australia". As well as the captaincy changing hands, five different fast bowlers were used (not including two medium pace bowlers) each playing a single match, including Hines Johnson.
Johnson debuted in the fourth Test against England, with his team leading 1–0. When the match started on 27 March 1948, Johnson was 37 years old. Statistically he was the most successful of the West Indian fast bowlers who played in the series, taking five wickets in each innings to lay the foundations of victory in the final Test. His haul of 10 wickets for 97 runs marked the first time a fast bowler had taken ten wickets in a match for the West Indies. They were also the best bowling figures in a Test at Kingston, a record that was only broken in 2005. Only fifteen players have taken ten or more wickets in their first Test, and Hines was the first of two West Indians to achieve the feat. The other West Indian bowler was spinner
Alf Valentine
Alfred Louis Valentine (28 April 1930 – 11 May 2004) was a West Indian cricketer in the 1950s and 1960s. He is most famous for his performance in the West Indies' 1950 tour of England, which was immortalised in the ''Victory Calypso''.
The 19 ...
, who took 11 wickets on debut in 1950; Johnson also played in the match.
The West Indies toured India for five Tests in 1948–49, but Johnson was unable to play. Though the West Indies won the series 1–0 it was felt that a fast bowler of Johnson's calibre might have helped the West Indies turn the draws into victories. Johnson played the second and third Tests of his three-match international career during the West Indies'
tour of England in 1950. The team's fast bowlers – Johnson,
Prior Jones, and
Lance Pierre – were expected to be the key to the team's fortunes, but spinners
Alf Valentine
Alfred Louis Valentine (28 April 1930 – 11 May 2004) was a West Indian cricketer in the 1950s and 1960s. He is most famous for his performance in the West Indies' 1950 tour of England, which was immortalised in the ''Victory Calypso''.
The 19 ...
and
Sonny Ramadhin dominated the bowling, taking 59 wickets between them in the four-Test series. Under
John Goddard's captaincy the West Indies fielded just one specialist opening bowler in each Test, with Johnson filling this role in the first and third matches, opening the bowling with first
Gerry Gomez
Gerry Ethridge Gomez (10 October 1919 – 6 August 1996) was a cricketer who played 29 Test matches for the West Indies cricket team between 1939 and 1954, scoring 1,243 runs and taking 58 wickets. He captained in one match for the West Indies ...
and then
Frank Worrell
Sir Frank Mortimer Maglinne Worrell (1 August 1924 – 13 March 1967), sometimes referred to by his nickname of Tae, was a West Indies cricketer and Jamaican senator. A stylish right-handed batsman and useful left-arm seam bowler, he became fam ...
. Injury prevented Johnson from bowling in the second innings of the first Test, and in the second match he was replaced by Jones. Johnson returned for the third Test, which proved to be the last of his career, shortly after his 40th birthday.
Style
The Wisden report for Johnson's debut match recorded that "Johnson, standing 6 feet 3 inches, looked a truly great fast bowler. At no time did he attempt to intimidate the England batsmen by pitching short, but maintained a splendid pace, and by persistently keeping the ball well up the pitch compelled his opponents to make strokes."
See also
*
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Johnson, Hines
1910 births
1987 deaths
West Indies Test cricketers
Jamaican cricketers
Cricketers who have taken five wickets on Test debut
Jamaica cricketers
Cricketers from Kingston, Jamaica