Johnny Wardle
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| Full name | John Henry Wardle | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born |
8 January 1923 Ardsley, Barnsley, West Riding of Yorkshire, England |
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| Died | 23 July 1985 (aged 62) Hatfield, Doncaster, Yorkshire, England |
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| Batting style | Left-handed batsman (LHB) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bowling style | Slow left-arm orthodox (SLA); Slow left-arm chinaman (SLC) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Johnny Wardle (8 January 1923 – 23 July 1985) was an English spin bowler of post-war cricket. His Test bowling average of 20.39 is the lowest in Test cricket by any recognised spin bowler, since the First World War.
Wardle played for Yorkshire, England, and later for Cambridgeshire.
John Henry Wardle was born in Ardsley, Barnsley, West Riding of Yorkshire.
Wardle, though mainly a classical orthodox left-arm finger-spinner, was probably the most versatile of all the great spin bowlers, and he was capable both of originality and accuracy. His ability to bowl left-arm wrist spinners that turned and bounced much more sharply, made him preferred over Tony Lock in his heyday. Wardle is the only English bowler to master this unusual style, and it gave him many of his greatest successes, notably in South Africa in 1956/1957, where he achieved the feat of taking 100 wickets in a season outside England. He was able, when circumstances allowed, to bowl the chinaman and did so at the highest level.
Wardle was also a dangerous left-handed hitter, whose stocky build permitted him to drive powerfully. Often his hitting against opposing spinners suggested that the defensive batting so characteristic of 1950s and 1960s first-class cricket was not the most effective method of play.
Wardle, whose family were miners, took to cricket during the Second World War and was so successful as a spin bowler and hard-hitting batsman that Yorkshire engaged him when looking for a successor to Hedley Verity, who had been killed in the war. Wardle only played one match in 1946, when the 43-year-old Arthur Booth's economy rate saw him head the averages, but when Booth fell ill with arthritis, Wardle took his place. In spite of a dry summer in 1947, Wardle was chosen for a largely experimental, Gubby Allen-led, MCC tour of the West Indies. He was disappointing on that tour, but his skill developed in the wet summer of the following year. Though an injury wiped out a quarter of his 1949 season, Wardle was deadly on the few rain-affected pitches that summer, and his bowling helped Yorkshire to make a late, albeit unsuccessful, tilt at the County Championship title.
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