Ivan Johnson
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
For the Canadian ice hockey player, see Ching Johnson. For the American basketball player, see Ivan Johnson (basketball).
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| Batting style | Left-handed batsman | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bowling style | Slow left arm orthodox | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Source: Cricinfo | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Ivan Nicholas Johnson (born 27 June 1953) is a Bahamas-born former English cricketer who played for Worcestershire from 1972 to 1975. The then-powerful and internationally star-studded Worcs team, which included Pakistan's star all-rounder Imran Khan, won the County Championship in 1974 and 1975. At Worcester, Johnson also played alongside the great South African Cape-coloured England all-rounder Basil "Dolly" D'Oliveira, who helped to bring down apartheid in South Africa;Ronnie Headley, son of the great West Indies batsman George "The Black Bradman" Headley, of Jamaica; and West Indies fast-bowler Vanburn Holder, of Barbados. Earlier Life: Johnson was born in Nassau, Bahamas. Johnson is the son of the late Bahamas World War Two hero Flght-Sgt Basil L.I. Johnson, CBE, DFM, RAFVR(http://www.156squadron.com/Crew_Johnson.html). Johnson is also a grandson of the late footballer Thomas "Tot" Walsh(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tot_Walsh). Walsh was centre-forward for Bolton Wanderers, Bristol City and Crystal Palace. Walsh was the 12th man for the legendary White Horse FA Cup Final of 1923, in which Bolton beat West Ham 2-0 at Wembley. On January 15, 1927, Walsh scored a record six goals or a double hat-trick (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyril_Gilhespy) for Bristol City against Gillingham. This is still a record for the number of goals scored in a Football League match in England. Johnson was educated at Queen's College, Nassau, Bahamas; Seaford Court Preparatory School, Malvern Link, Worcs; and Malvern College, Worcs. The late Malvern College cricket coach Geoff Morton (Watford FC and Middlesex CCC) and the late Worcs CCC player and Malvern College schoolmaster George Chesterton described Johnson "as arguably the best schoolboy cricketer" to play for Malvern College since World War II. Johnson was in the Malvern XI for four years (1968-1971), captaining the team in 1971. Johnson was also in Malvern's soccer first XI (1969/70); and the rackets first pair (1970/71). Johnson played several Second XI matches for Worcestershire in his summer vacations from 1969 onwards (and one game for Northamptonshire seconds in 1971). After leaving Malvern, he made his first-class professional debut aged 18 for Worcestershire in June 1972 in a drawn match against Oxford University. He took the wickets of Michael Heal and Barry May in Oxford's only innings, and scored 7 not out and 1 not out with the bat. He was retained for the County Championship clash with Warwickshire which followed immediately, but managed only 0-28 from eight overs. In July, 1972, Johnson took 7-57 for the Second XI against Warwickshire II and was recalled to the first team, where he remained for six games (three each of first-class and List A). There were no outstanding performances, however, and his bowling was rather expensive at times. After that, Johnson spent the rest of the 1972 season on a tour of the West Indies with the Young England Under-19 team. Johnson topped the batting averages on the Junior Test match tour of the West Indies. He scored 110no and 70 (Sabina Park) in Jamaica; 82 at the Kensington Oval in Barbados; and 36 at Bourda in Guyana. All-rounder Johnson also took wickets with his slow left-arm spin bowling. Other members of the 1972 England Under-19 team were Graham Gooch (Essex), Geoff Miller (Derbys), Johnny Barclay (Sussex, Capt), Graham Clinton (Surrey), Andy Stovold (Gloucs) and Peter Booth (Leics).1973 was Johnson's best year in the professional game. He played 21 first-class games, scoring 475 runs at 20.65, including three half-centuries, and took 15 wickets, albeit at a very expensive average of over 51. One of his fifties (54) was scored against Middlesex at Lord's. In his 24 one-day matches he fared better, again claiming 15 wickets but at a much superior average of 27.20; he also occasionally contributed some useful runs from number seven or eight. Johnson played in the 1973 Benson & Hedges Cup Final at Lord's in which Worcs were defeated by Kent. Johnson had scored 27 in the B&H Cup semi-final against Lancashire at Old Trafford. During his vital innings Johnson chatted mid-wicket with the other Worcs batsman at the crease Basil D'Oliveira. Johnson told D'Oliveira that his bat seemed to be middling the ball with exceptional power and sweet timing. D'Oliveira looked at the bat and exclaimed: "I'm not surprised. That's my No.2 bat!" Johnson had picked up the wrong bat in the pavilion changing room! Worcs won the low-scoring semi-final beating Lancs on the last ball of the game. The scores were tied. But Worcs won by virtue of the fact that they had lost nine wickets to Lancs' ten. Johnson had perhaps the most memorable moment of his cricketing career in 1973. It happened in a John Player League 40-over one-day game for Worcs against Nottinghamshire at Dudley. An article in the Daily Telegraph described the drama. Worcs needed four runs to win off the last ball of the match. Johnson was the batsman. D'Oliveira was the batsman at the non-striker's end. And the man to bowl the last ball to Johnson was the world's greatest all-rounder Garry Sobers, of the West Indies, Barbados and Notts. Sobers delivered a full-length ball on off-stump. Johnson cracked the ball towards the mid-off boundary. But Notts fielder Mike Harris cut off the ball just before it went for four. Johnson was only able to scamper two runs. Johnson finished on 36no. And Notts won the last-ball thriller by two runs! Another memorable moment happened in Johnson's career when Worcs played Yorkshire at Hull in 1973. The amusing incident was recalled by D'Oliveira in his 1980 autobiography book titled, "Time To Declare". Johnson played a useful innings of 27 to help D'Oliveira score 227, the Worcs and England all-rounder's highest score in first-class cricket. Richard Hutton, son of the great England and Yorkshire captain Sir Len Hutton, grew increasingly frustrated with Johnson. Young Johnson kept slashing streaky shots through the slips and gully area off Hutton's medium-pace bowling. Finally, when Johnson thick-edged a ball for four, Hutton had had enough. He stood arms akimbo and told Johnson: "Why don't you **** off back onto the Robertson's Jam Jar, you Golliwog." Everybody, including Johnson, fell about laughing. Hutton was referring to the fact that with his high Afro hair-style, Johnson resembled the Golliwog trademark symbol on the Robertson's jams in those days. These days Hutton's remark would be frowned on. But in 1973 such comments were regarded as harmless on-field banter. Johnson played only sporadically for the first team during the next two years. He did, however, manage two first-class career bests. In May against Nottinghamshire he scored 69, while in what proved to be his very last first-team match, against Oxford University in late June, he claimed 5-74 in the second innings. At the beginning of the 1975 season Johnson handed in his letter of resignation to Worcs, effective September of that year. Johnson had decided to pursue a career in journalism. In 1975, Johnson also played for the Old Malverniansin the Cricketer Cup, the competition for the Old Boys of Britain's private schools. Johnson played two match-winning innings to propel the Old Malvernians to the Cup final. He scored 70 against Old Tonbridgians (Tonbridge) and 72 against the Old Carthusians (Charterhouse). The Old Malvernians then beat the Old Harrovians (Harrow) in the final towin the Cup. Amazingly, the Old Malvernian team in the final consisted of nine current or former county cricketers. The nine were: Johnson (Worcs); George Chesterton (Worcs, Capt), Bryan Richardson (Warwicks); John Wilcox (Essex); David Bailey (Lancs); Trevor Tunnicliffe (Notts); Dick Devereaux (Worcs); Roger Tolchard (Leics, England); and Jeff Tolchard (Leics). Later Life: Having obtained his "O" Levels and "A" levels at age 17 at Malvern in 1971, Johnson qualified as an indentured trainee journalist with Lord Thompson's Newspapers in October 1975. He worked and trained as a reporter and sub-editor on the now-defunct Evening Post-Echo at Hemel Hempstead, Herts, and the Harlow College Of Journalism. Johnson moved in 1979 to Fleet Street, London, the mecca of journalism. He joined Rupert Murdoch's Sun newspaper as astaff sub-editor under the legendary editor Kelvin MacKenzie. At the time, The London Sun was the world's biggest-selling English language newspaper with a circulation offour million copies a day. In 1985, Johnson was one of two Sun sub-editors recruited to work on Murdoch's papers in Australia. Johnson spent the next two years working as a staff sub-editor on the Daily Mirror in Sydney, Australia; The Bulletin in Townsville, Queensland; and the Sunday Times in Perth, Western Australia. Johnson returned to London in 1988. He worked as a regular freelance sub-editor for the News Of The World and The Sunday Times before joining the Express Newspaper Group as a staff sub-editor on the Daily Star, sister paper of the Daily Express, in London. After leaving Worcestershire, Johnson played occasional games of cricket for club or charity teams. While working on Fleet Street, Johnson played for the Fleet Street El Vino's XI, captained by the late Reg Hayter, founder of Hayter's Sports News Agency. Playing along with Johnson on the El Vino's team were Sun sports columnists Jimmy Greaves (Tottenham Hotspur & England), England's greatest goalscoring striker; footballer Malcolm McDonald (Newcastle & England); and former England cricketers John Edrich (Surrey) and John Snow (Sussex). Apparently, Greaves kept wicket beautifully to Johnson's left-arm spin bowling! Johnson returned to playing squash after retiring from professional cricket. Johnson captained the Hampstead-Abraxas Squash Club to the North-West London Div II Championship title in the early 1980s. The Hampstead-Abraxas squash team included world-ranked brothers Hishi and Iqbal Kahn, of Pakistan. Not surprisingly, Hampstead-Abraxas won all 16 of their championship matches! Johnson also played for The Bahamas in the North Caribbean Squash Championships in 1995. Johnson returned to his native Bahamas in August 1989. Johnson launched his own newspaper in Nassau called The Punch (www.nassaupunch.com) in February 1990. The Punch quickly became The Bahamas'biggest-selling and most-read newspaper. Bahamians loved The Punch's Fleet Street London-style popular quality tabloid format. The Punch was credited with bringing about the defeat of the old corrupt PLP Government of the late Bahamas Prime Minister Sir Lynden Pindling in August 1992. Sir Lynden's Old PLP had ruled for 25 years. The Old PLP was defeated by the FNM, the so-called "Sunshine Government" party, under leader Hubert Ingraham. The Punch is a bi-weekly publishing on Mondays and Thursdaysin The Bahamas. Johnson is the editor/owner/publisher of The Punch, of Punch Publications Ltd, Nassau, Bahamas. Johnson is the first and only Bahamian to play professional cricket at the first-class and junior Test match level.
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