Hubert Laurence Johnson (8 November 1927 – 4 February 2020) was a Barbados-born cricketer who played

first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is one of three or more days' scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officia ...

for

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southern end of the Pennine range of hills and part of the National Forest. It borders Greater Manchester to the nor ...

between 1949 and 1966, scoring more than 14,000 runs.

Life and career

Johnson was born at Pine Hill,

St Michael Michael (; he, מִיכָאֵל, lit=Who is like El od, translit=Mīḵāʾēl; el, Μιχαήλ, translit=Mikhaḗl; la, Michahel; ar, ميخائيل ، مِيكَالَ ، ميكائيل, translit=Mīkāʾīl, Mīkāl, Mīkhāʾīl), also ...

, Barbados. He was educated at The Lodge School, well known as the cradle of cricket in Barbados, where he benefited from the coaching of Leslie Arthur "Bessie" Walcott. Johnson was invited to the BCA trials in 1945 and in 1946 he was part of the Barbados team to Trinidad, but did not play. However, he scored centuries against Combermere,

Spartan Sparta ( Doric Greek: Σπάρτα, ''Spártā''; Attic Greek: Σπάρτη, ''Spártē'') was a prominent city-state in Laconia, in ancient Greece. In antiquity, the city-state was known as Lacedaemon (, ), while the name Sparta refe ...

and Wanderers, and then migrated to England to train as a sugar industry engineer.Bygone Derbyshire – Laurie Johnson – Run machine from Barbados
/ref> Johnson played for the Swarkestone Cricket Club, and appeared for Derbyshire in 2nd XI matches in 1947 and 1948. He made his first-class debut against

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean. The county town is the city of Gl ...

in June 1949 and made 23 and 6 in the match. He played regularly in the first and second Derbyshire teams in 1949 and 1950, but then returned to British Guiana. He reappeared for Derbyshire in 1955 and was a first team regular for the next ten years. He built up his scoring rate to reach over 1400 runs in 1959 and then became a top scorer. In 1960 he hit his first centuries with 140 against Glamorgan, 130 against

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and Grea ...

, 113 against

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancash ...

and 109 against Leicestershire. In 1961 he scored 122 against Gloucestershire, 119 against Essex, 116 against Leicestershire and 112 against

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English cities on its south coast, Southampton and Portsmouth, Hampshire ...

. In 1962 he made his top score of 154 against Leicestershire, and scored 108 against

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lord_ ...

and 114 against Sussex. He scored five centuries in 1964 with 137 against

Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated Notts.) is a landlocked county in the East Midlands region of England, bordering South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. The trad ...

, 132 against Somerset, 101 against

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Av ...

, 101 not out against the Australians and 100 against

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a historic county in southeast England. Its area is almost entirely within the wider urbanised area of London and mostly within the ceremonial county of Greater London, with small sections in neighbour ...

. The run scoring fell back in 1965 and 1966, and he ended his career at the end of the 1966 season. For the last four years he played in the List A Gillette Cup competition. Johnson was a right-handed batsman and played 606 innings in 351 first-class matches to make 14,286 runs. He scored 16 centuries with a top score of 154 and an average of 26.40. He was an occasional right-arm off-break bowler and took 21 first-class wickets with an average of 39.14 and a best performance of 3 for 12. He also stood in as wicket keeper for Bob Taylor and took two wickets by stumping in 1964.Laurie Johnson at Cricket Archive
/ref>

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Johnson, Laurie 1927 births 2020 deaths Barbadian cricketers Derbyshire cricketers International Cavaliers cricketers People educated at The Lodge School, Barbados Cricketers from Saint Michael, Barbados North v South cricketers Barbadian people of European descent