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

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

er who coached

Middlesex County Cricket Club Middlesex County Cricket Club is one of eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Middlesex which has effectively been subsumed within the ceremonial ...

from 2022 to 2025.

Domestic career

A right-arm fast-medium pace swing bowler and useful late-order batsman (he scored two first-class centuries), Johnson made his first-class debut as a teenager in the 1992 County Championship as an opening bowler for

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, former county in South East England, now mainly within Greater London. Its boundaries largely followed three rivers: the River Thames, Thames in the south, the River Lea, Le ...

. Johnson made headlines in 1994 when he took all ten

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It borders Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire, and South Yorkshire to the north, Nottinghamshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south-east, Staffordshire to the south a ...

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, currently known for sponsorship reasons as the Rothesay County Championship, is the only domestic first-class cricket competition in England and Wales. Established in 1890, it is organised by the England and Wales Cri ...

since 1945. He joined

Somerset Somerset ( , ), Archaism, archaically Somersetshire ( , , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel, Gloucestershire, and Bristol to the north, Wiltshire to the east ...

in 2001, helping the county to win the Cheltenham & Gloucester Trophy in that season. He rejoined Middlesex in 2007. In a short international career, Johnson played three

Tests 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) ...

and ten

One Day International One Day International (ODI) is a format of cricket, played between two teams with international status, in which each team faces a fixed number of fifty overs, with the game lasting up to 7 hours. The World Cup, generally held every four yea ...

s (ODIs) for

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

in 2003, his only year of international cricket. Johnson 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 Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...

before his appointment by Middlesex as head coach in January 2022 following the departure of

Stuart Law Stuart Grant Law (born 18 October 1968) is an Australian-born cricket coach and former cricketer. He is the current head coach of Nepal National Cricket Team. He was a part of the Australian squad which finished as runners-up at the 1996 Crick ...

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 Forms of cricket, format of the sport of cricket, considered the game’s most prestigious and traditional form. Often referred to as the "ultimate test" of a cricketer's skill, endurance, and temperament, it is a format of i ...

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 cricket team, England in 76 Test cricket, Test matches and 123 One Day In ...

and

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 Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

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 (; born 27 May 1977) is a Sri Lankan former professional cricketer and captain of the Sri Lanka national cricket team, Sri Lankan national cricket team. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest ...

, and followed this up with four wickets in the ODI series, finishing the tournament with a

bowling average In cricket, a player's bowling average is the number of runs they have conceded per wicket taken. The lower the bowling average is, the better the bowler is performing. It is one of a number of statistics used to compare bowlers, commonly use ...

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, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

and

Bangladesh Bangladesh, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous country in the world and among the List of countries and dependencies by ...

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 Andrew Richard Caddick (born 21 November 1968) is a former cricketer who played for England as a fast bowler in Tests and ODIs. At 6 ft 5in, Caddick was a successful bowler for England for a decade, taking 13 five-wicket hauls in Test mat ...

. 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 file:Zimbabwe, relief map.jpg, upright=1.22, Zimbabwe, relief map Zimbabwe, officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Bots ...

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 award (also known as man of the match or woman of the match) 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 chose ...

award. His figures were the sixth best by an Englishman on Test debut. His

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. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

. 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-d ...

, 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, 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 (16 March 1974 – 3 September 2023) was a Zimbabwean cricketer and cricket coach who played for and captained the Zimbabwe national cricket team. He was the all time leading wicket taker for Zimbabwe in Test cricket with 2 ...

, 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 Order of Ikhamanga, OIS (born 16 October 1975) is a South African cricket coach and former professional cricketer. Widely regarded as one of the greatest cricketers of all time and as one of the greatest all-rounders ever t ...

caught Caught is a method of dismissing a batsman in cricket. A batsman is out caught if the batsman hits the ball, from a legitimate delivery, with the bat, and the ball is caught by the bowler or a fielder before it hits the ground. If the catch ...

, 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

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

. 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 ...

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

in December 2003. He claimed a solitary wicket, that of

Kumar Sangakkara Kumar Chokshanada Sangakkara (; born 27 October 1977) is a Sri Lankan former professional cricketer who represented Sri Lanka from 2000 to 2015. A former captain in all formats. He was born in Matale, Central Province. In first-class cricke ...

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

. He then moved to

as a bowling coach, before returning to Middlesex as their first team coach between 2022 and 2025.

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 Cricketers from Chertsey