John Hanbury Human (16 January 1912 – 22 July 1991) was an English

cricketer 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 striki ...

who played first-class cricket in the 1930s before moving to Australia.

Cricket career

John Human was educated at Repton and Clare College, Cambridge. He toured twice with the MCC and was considered unlucky not to be capped by England. He toured India in 1933-34 while still an undergraduate, but could not force his way into a strong batting side. He toured

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

and New Zealand under Errol Holmes in 1935–36 and played in each of the four unofficial Tests in New Zealand. He played in 49 first-class matches for Middlesex, scoring 1,703 runs, with three hundreds, the highest being his 144 at the Oval in 1935, when he and Hendren added 285 in 210 minutes. That was the year of the "leather-jackets" at

Lord's Lord's Cricket Ground, commonly known as Lord's, is a cricket venue in St John's Wood, London. Named after its founder, Thomas Lord, it is owned by Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and is the home of Middlesex County Cricket Club, the England and ...

, when crane fly larvae ate much of the grass on the pitch, and also of a change in the LBW law. Most of the Middlesex batsmen were out of form, only Human and Hendren scoring hundreds. Human was a tall and powerful batsman; Terence Prittie wrote that "his driving stands out in an era when the development of back-play and leg-side technique has put forward play at a discount". He also bowled leg-spin and was a sprightly field.

Later life

Human settled in

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

and married Mollie Walder (daughter of Sir Samuel Walder, the Lord Mayor), whom he had met on the boat to Australia for the 1935–36 tour. He served in the Australian Army in World War II with the rank of

major Major (commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicators ...

. After the war he entered a business career. He also broadcast frequently on cricket. His older brother

Roger Human Roger Henry Charles Human (11 May 1909 – 21 November 1942) was an English first-class cricketer who played 59 matches in the 1930s. He mainly played for Cambridge University and then Worcestershire, but also appeared once each for the Gentl ...

played 59 first-class matches in the 1930s.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Human, John 1912 births 1991 deaths Cambridge University cricketers English cricketers Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers Middlesex cricketers People educated at Repton School Alumni of Clare College, Cambridge Gentlemen cricketers Berkshire cricketers English cricketers of 1919 to 1945 H. D. G. Leveson Gower's XI cricketers English emigrants to Australia Australian Army personnel of World War II Australian Army officers People from Gosforth Sportspeople from Newcastle upon Tyne (district)