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

Fourth Test

The teams headed to Headingley for the Fourth Test with Barnes still unfit. Australia made two changes for the Test. Middle-order batsman Neil Harvey came in for Barnes, while Ron Saggers replaced Don Tallon—who had a finger injury—behind the stumps. Brown was not recalled to open with Morris; instead, Hassett was promoted from the middle-order to open with Morris, while the teenaged Harvey came into the middle-order. Australia thus jettisoned the experiment of opening the batting with Johnson, who had managed only one and six in the previous Test.

England won the toss and elected to bat on an ideal batting pitch that was predicted to be unhelpful for fast bowling. Thirty minutes before tea, England brought up their 150 without loss, and continued unhindered after two brief interruptions due to rain. Up to this point, the Australian bowling had been loose and inaccurate. Bradman brought on Johnson, who had delivered only three overs so far, the rest of the proceedings having been through fast bowlers. Seeking to stem the flow of runs, Bradman gave Johnson a ring field with no slip. Johnson bowled two consecutive maidens, but Washbrook was scoring freely at the other end, so Bradman called for the new ball and brought back the fast bowlers. Johnson was still wicketless when England closed the day at 2/268. Former Australian Test batsman Jack Fingleton accused Australia of going "progressively downhill" and regarded their performance as their worst day of bowling since World War II, citing the proliferation of full tosses.

The next morning, England progressed strongly. Nightwatchman Alec Bedser hit three consecutive fours from Toshack, prompting Bradman to replace him with Johnson. Bedser surveyed Johnson's wares for one over before hitting him into the leg side three times in the next, yielding a six and two fours. Bradman responded by removing Johnson from the attack. When the off spinner came back, Edrich hit him for another six to reach 96. However, Johnson soon had his revenge. England reached 2/423 when Bedser was out caught and bowled by Johnson, patting the ball back to the bowler when he could have hit it decisively. His on-drive was intercepted by the bowler, who dived across the pitch to his right-hand side to complete the catch. This ended a 155-run third-wicket partnership. Edrich attempted to pull a Johnson long hop to the leg side, targeting the large gap between square leg and mid-on, but only ballooned the ball to Morris, who completed the catch diving forwards at wide mid-on. This came only three runs after Bedser's dismissal and left the score at 4/426. Johnson's two wickets brought two new batsmen were to the crease and precipitated a collapse that saw England dismissed for 496. Johnson ended with 2/89 from 33 overs and was the least economical of the frontline bowlers except Toshack, who broke down with a knee injury.

On the third afternoon, Johnson came to the crease at 5/294 in Australia's first innings when Harvey departed for 112, but he made only 10 before falling at 6/329. Lindwall replaced him and made 77 as Australia's tail pushed the score to 458 on the fourth morning, reducing the deficit to 38. In the second innings, the English batsmen continued to attack Johnson. Given Johnson's lack of economy in the first innings, Bradman declined to use him for the entirety of the first session of the fourth day. When Johnson was introduced after lunch, he was targeted, and Washbrook and Hutton both lofted him for sixes in quick succession, prompting Bradman to remove him from the attack. When Johnson returned, Hutton again hit him in the air, but this time Bradman took a running catch to dismiss the batsman for 57, leaving England at 2/129. Edrich and Compton came in and were initially pinned down, but after 45 minutes, Compton charged Johnson and heaved a delivery to the leg side for a boundary. Bradman promptly took the new ball as England reached 2/209 at tea. After the break, England continued to target Johnson. Edrich hit Johnson for three consecutive fours before lofting a fourth into the crowd for six. Compton took risks against Johnson, successfully cutting against the spin several times, and Bradman was forced to use a well-spread field to cut down the fast scoring off Johnson. England reached 2/232 before collapsing to be 8/362 at the end of the day, but Johnson was not responsible for any of these wickets.

England batted on for five minutes on the final morning, adding three runs in two overs before Yardley declared at 8/365. Johnson ended with 1/85 from 21 overs and was the most uneconomical of the Australian bowlers, conceding runs at a rate of 4.04 per over while the others averaged 3.26. Batting into the final day allowed Yardley the right to ask the groundsman to use a heavy roller, which would help to break up the wicket, make it more likely to spin and therefore more difficult for Australia to bat on.

This left Australia a target of 404 runs for victory. At the time, this would have been the highest ever run-chase to result in a Test victory for the batting side. Australia had only 345 minutes to reach the target, but they scored the runs with 15 minutes to spare and seven wickets in hand, sealing the series 3–0.

After bowling 54 overs at Headingley, Johnson was rested as Australia defeated Derbyshire by an innings in a match that started the day after the Fourth Test. He bowled the most overs upon his return in the following match against Glamorgan, a rain-affected draw that did not reach the second innings. Johnson sent down 28.4 overs and took 3/58 as the hosts were bowled out for 197; Australia reached 3/215 when the weather ended the match.

Johnson was the most economical Australian in the first innings of the game against Warwickshire. He took 3/29 from 22.3 overs as the hosts fell for 138, before making an unbeaten 13 at No. 9 as Australia struggled to 254 in reply. He was given a solitary maiden over in the second innings before Australia won by nine wickets. Australia then faced and drew with Lancashire for the second time on the tour. Johnson came to the crease at 6/202 after Bradman’s men had suffered a middle-order collapse of 3/8. He made 48 as the Australian lower order wagged to push the score to 321. Johnson was given a light bowling load in the first innings, sending down only five overs, but he removed three of the last four wickets to end with 3/5 as the hosts fell for 130. He did not bat in the second innings and took 1/30 as the home side managed to hang on with seven wickets down. In the non-first-class match against Durham, a rain-affected draw that did not reach the second innings, Johnson came in at 7/212 and made 44 to help Australia recover to 282 and took 1/2 from three overs as the hosts reached 5/73 when rain ended the match after the first day.