Ian Johnson With The Australian Cricket Team in England in 1948 - First Test

First Test

Although his four matches since the MCC fixture had yielded only six wickets at 34.16, Johnson was selected in the team for the First Test at Trent Bridge. McCool, the other spinner in the MCC and Worcestershire matches, had played in only one match since the MCC game, in which he was wicketless. McCool’s omission was the only change from those two matches. Bill Johnston, who bowled left arm pace and orthodox spin was included in the team at the last minute in the hope of exploiting a wet wicket, following the arrival of rain. Johnston had taken match figures of 10/40 and 11/117 against Yorkshire and Hampshire respectively, both on rain-affected wickets.

English captain Norman Yardley won the toss and elected to bat. Pundits believed the pitch would be ideal for batting after giving some assistance to the fast bowlers in the first hour. Australia's pacemen reduced England to 8/74 before finishing them off for 165. Johnson was only given five overs and took 0/19 as the pacemen efficiently cut down the English batsmen in 79 overs.

During the innings, Bill Edrich was on four when he edged Ray Lindwall to Johnson at first slip. Johnson got both hands to the ball above his head, but dropped it. However, the dropped catch was not costly, as Edrich was dismissed for 18.

On the third day, Australia reached 5/305 when Johnson came in to bat. He made 21 with three fours, including an edge over the slips cordon, before being bowled by Laker. Johnson hit the ball onto his foot, which deflected it back into his stumps. This left Australia at 6/338 but the lower order continued to contribute and pushed the total to 509, giving the tourists a 344-run lead.

England began their second innings on the third afternoon. Late in the day, after scoring 13 in 43 minutes, Edrich was caught behind by Don Tallon after attempting a cut shot from Johnson’s bowling. Edrich did not read the arm ball, which went straight on and took the outside edge, leaving England at 2/39. Denis Compton came in and he ran down the pitch before the first ball was bowled; he had to quickly block the ball on the run. He then survived a confident lbw appeal from the bowling of Johnson when he was on eight. Compton appeared resigned to his fate and ready to walk, but umpire Frank Chester declined the appeal. During this passage of play, Johnson extracted a substantial amount of spin from the surface. England closed the day at 2/121.

The light was again poor on the fourth day, but England did not appeal against it. Yardley wanted to bat now in poor visibility to erase the deficit and build a lead, to force Australia to chase a target on an erratic surface if a shower came later and turned the pitch into a sticky wicket. Bradman thought that rain might come, so he utilised Toshack and Johnson to bowl defensive leg theory so England would not be in the lead should a sticky wicket arise. As the umpires were obliged to not call off play unless the light was so poor as to endanger the batsman, the lack of pace of Johnson and Toshack forced play to continue as they posed no physical threat to the batsmen.

In his first over at the start of the day, Johnson extracted sharp turn from one delivery that pitched outside off stump; not expecting much spin, Compton did not play a shot and was hit on the pads, but the umpire rejected the loud appeal for lbw. Otherwise, Len Hutton and Compton progressed steadily, although Johnson and Toshack were able to make the ball deviate regularly.

Soon after reaching his century during the afternoon, Compton edged to the slips from the bowling of Miller, but Johnson spilled the catch. Compton went on to make 184 and England were eventually out for 441 on the final day. Johnson sent down 42 overs for a return of 1/66. He had the best economy rate of 1.57 runs per over, ahead of Toshack's 1.81; Bradman used both in a defensive manner. This left Australia a target of 98, which they reached with eight wickets to spare.

Between Tests, Johnson played in the match against Northamptonshire, which started the day after the First Test. He took three middle-order wickets and ended with 3/13 from 13 overs, the most economical figures among the Australians in the first innings, as the hosts were out for 119. He made only four in the bat and took 1/46 in the second innings as Australia cruised to an innings victory. After playing in seven consecutive matches comprising 21 days of cricket between 22 May and 18 June, Johnson was rested for the second match between Tests, which was a draw against Yorkshire.