Richard Leonard Johnson (born 29 December 1974) is a former international English

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 and the current coach of Middlesex County Cricket Club.

Domestic career

A right-handed batsman and right-arm

fast-medium Fast bowling (also referred to as pace bowling) is one of two main approaches to bowling in the sport of cricket, the other being spin bowling. Practitioners of pace bowling are usually known as ''fast'' bowlers, ''quicks'', or ''pacemen''. T ...

pace swing bowler, Johnson made his first-class debut as a teenager in the

1992 County Championship The 1992 Britannic Assurance County Championship was the 93rd officially organised running of the County Championship. Essex won the Championship title. Durham Durham most commonly refers to: *Durham, England, a cathedral city and the county tow ...

as an opening bowler for

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 ...

. Johnson made headlines in 1994 when he took all ten

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 ...

wickets in their second-innings, returning figures of 10/45. These remain the best innings figures taken in the English

County Championship The County Championship (referred to as the LV= Insurance County Championship for sponsorship reasons) is the domestic first-class cricket competition in England and Wales and is organised by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB). It bec ...

since 1945. He joined

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_ ...

in 2001, helping the county to win the

Cheltenham & Gloucester Trophy The Friends Provident Trophy was a one-day cricket competition in the United Kingdom. It was one of the four tournaments in which the eighteen first-class counties competed each season. They were joined by teams from Scotland and Ireland. La ...

in that season. He rejoined Middlesex in 2007. In a short international career, he played three Tests and ten One Day Internationals (ODIs) for

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

in 2003, his only year of international cricket. He announced his retirement from first-class cricket in October 2007, aged 32 before launching a coaching career. Following his retirement, he gained experience as a bowling coach for both

and Surrey before his appointment by Middlesex as head coach in January 2022 following the departure of Stuart Law.

International career

International recognition

Johnson's first taste of international cricket came during the 1992–93 Coca-Cola International Youth Cricket Challenge in South Africa, where he represented England Under-18s, alongside fellow future

Test cricket Test cricket is a form of first-class cricket played at international level between teams representing full member countries of the International Cricket Council (ICC). A match consists of four innings (two per team) and is scheduled to last f ...

ers

Marcus Trescothick Marcus Edward Trescothick (born 25 December 1975) is an English former cricketer who played first-class cricket for Somerset County Cricket Club, and represented England in 76 Test matches and 123 One Day Internationals.Vikram Solanki Vikram Singh Solanki (born 1 April 1976) is an English cricket coach and former first-class cricketer. In limited over international cricket, he played over 50 One Day Internationals for England as a batsman and occasional off-spinner. In cou ...

. The following winter, he toured Sri Lanka with England Under-19s, playing one youth Test and three youth One Day Internationals. He claimed three wickets in each innings of his Test appearance, including that of

Mahela Jayawardene Denagamage Praboth Mahela de Silva Jayawardene ( si, දෙනගමගේ ප්‍රබෝත් මහේල ද සිල්වා ජයවර්ධන; born 27 May 1977) is a former Sri Lankan cricketer who is the current consultant coach ...

, and followed this up with four wickets in the ODI series, finishing the tournament with a bowling average of 14.16 from his Test and 16.50 from the ODI series. After his

ten-wicket haul In cricket, a ten-wicket haul occurs when a bowler takes ten wickets in either a single innings or across both innings of a two-innings match. The phrase ten wickets in a match is also used. Taking ten wickets in a match at Lord's earns the bowle ...

against Derbyshire, Johnson was named as part of the England A squad to tour

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

and

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...

in the winter of 1994–95. He was called into the England tour of India in 2001-2 as a late replacement for county colleague Andy Caddick. He did not play in any of the international matches on the tour, although he appeared in one tour match, taking four wickets. Johnson's

Test Test(s), testing, or TEST may refer to: * Test (assessment), an educational assessment intended to measure the respondents' knowledge or other abilities Arts and entertainment * ''Test'' (2013 film), an American film * ''Test'' (2014 film), ...

career began in impressive fashion, as he claimed six wickets in the first-innings of his debut against

Zimbabwe Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and ...

in June 2003. Although he remained wicket-less in the second-innings, Johnson received the

man of the match In team sport, a player of the match or man of the match or woman of the match award is often given to the most outstanding player in a particular match. This can be a player from either team, although the player is generally chosen from the winn ...

award. His figures were the sixth best by an Englishman on Test debut. His One Day International debut came later in the same month as part of the 2003 NatWest Series against Zimbabwe and

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

. Opening the bowling alongside

Darren Gough Darren Gough (born 18 September 1970) is a retired English cricketer and former captain of Yorkshire County Cricket Club. The spearhead of England's bowling attack through much of the 1990s, he is England's second highest wicket-taker in one-da ...

, he claimed three wickets as Zimbabwe won with two overs to spare. He went wicket-less in two matches against South Africa before claiming another two Zimbabwean wickets in the following match. Following the return of

James Anderson James Anderson may refer to: Arts *James Anderson (American actor) (1921–1969), American actor *James Anderson (author) (1936–2007), British mystery writer *James Anderson (English actor) (born 1980), British actor * James Anderson (filmmaker) ...

, Johnson was no longer opening the bowling, instead being used as first-change bowler. A five-man pace attack bowled Zimbabwe out for just 92, and despite four wickets from

Heath Streak Heath Hilton Streak (born 16 March 1974) is a former Zimbabwean cricketer and cricket coach who played for and captained the Zimbabwe national cricket team. By his statistical record, he is the best bowler to have played for Zimbabwe. He is the a ...

, England won the match in just 17.5 overs. He claimed his first non-Zimbabwean wicket in the penultimate match of the competition, having

Jacques Kallis Jacques Henry Kallis (born 16 October 1975) is a South African cricket coach and former cricketer. Widely regarded as one of the greatest cricketers of all time and as South Africa's greatest batsman ever, he is a right-handed batsman and righ ...

caught, following it up two overs later with the wicket of

Andrew Hall Andrew James Hall (born 31 July 1975) is a former South African first-class cricketer who played from 1999 until 2011. He played as an all-rounder who bowled fast-medium pace and has been used as both an opening batsman and in the lower order. ...

. Another wicket in the final meant that Johnson finished the tournament with eight wickets for a respectable bowling average of 22.12. A knee injury prevented Johnson from playing in the following Test series against South Africa. Despite his performance on debut, Johnson was not picked as part of the England Test squad to tour Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. However, when Anderson was ruled out with a knee injury, Johnson cancelled his honeymoon and an injury to

Steve Harmison Stephen James Harmison, (born 23 October 1978) is an English former first-class cricketer, who played all formats of the game. Primarily a fast bowler, he represented England in 63 Tests, 58 ODIs, and 2 T20s. He also played county cricket for ...

in the first Test saw him selected for the second. He responded by becoming the first English bowler since Nick Cook in 1983 to take five-wicket hauls in his first two Tests. He finished with match figures of 9/93, and was once again rewarded by being named man of the match. In the subsequent ODIs, Johnson claimed three wickets in the second match after remaining wicket-less in the first. Johnson's third, and final, Test appearance came in the first Test against Sri Lanka in December 2003. He claimed a solitary wicket, that of

Kumar Sangakkara Kumara Chokshananda Sangakkara ( si, කුමාර් චොක්ශනාද සංගක්කාර; born 27 October 1977) is a Sri Lankan cricket commentator, former professional cricketer, businessman, ICC Hall of Fame inductee and the ...

. England opted to replace Hoggard and Johnson with a sixth batsman and

James Kirtley Robert James Kirtley (born 10 January 1975) is a former English Test cricketer. He is a right arm fast medium bowler and a right hand batsman. After prep school at St. Andrews School, Eastbourne, he was educated at Clifton College. Kirtley is p ...

for the second Test, with both bowlers receiving criticism for lacking the variety needed on a flat track at Galle.

Coaching career

Johnson worked as the bowling coach for

from 2011 to 2018. When Middlesex's head coach was sacked, Johnson took over as interim head coach for the remainder of the 2018 season, but was not appointed as full-time head coach at the end of the season, being beaten to the role by Stuart Law. He then moved to Surrey as a bowling coach, before returning to Middlesex as their first team coach in 2022

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Johnson, Richard 1974 births Living people Berkshire cricketers England One Day International cricketers England Test cricketers English cricketers Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers Middlesex cricketers Somerset cricketers English cricket coaches Middlesex cricket coaches Cricketers who have taken five wickets on Test debut Cricketers who have taken ten wickets in an innings NBC Denis Compton Award recipients Sportspeople from Chertsey