The sport of cricket has given us many incredible moments, and sometimes the most unthinkable ones. Let’s look at one such instance which eventually did happen.
A bowler dismissing the whole team is an unforeseen scenario, but one such instance took place in an English County game. Richard Leonard Johnson, remember the name, playing for Middlesex, took 10 scalps against Derbyshire in a Test match in 1994. If that one fact is hard for you to digest, the other is even more breathtaking.
Richard achieved this legendary milestone at the age of just 19. Yes, you read it correctly, he did all this as a teenager.
The interesting fact here is that it was during the tea break, that everyone realized that Johnson had taken seven wickets and could go on to become the first bowler to take a ten-wicket haul since 1964. Mike Gatting, Middlesex’s captain helped the teenage boy to achieve this historic landmark. The captain brought Desmond Haynes on to bowl so that no wickets would fall at the other end. Devon Malcolm (Derbyshire) almost ruined Gatting's efforts by nearly getting himself bowled by Haynes before Johnson wrapped things up with Matthew Taylor's wicket in the next over.
Behind every notable moment, there are always other people who help to create it. Like in this case, Richards’s teammate and his captain Mike Gatting helped him to achieve this pillar. The match concluded with the teen having the figures of 10/45 to his name.
In his domestic career, he joined Somerset in 2001 before rejoining Middlesex in 2007.
Johnson’s international career was not so glorious, however. He played three Tests and ten ODIs for England in 2003, his only year of international cricket. The Englishmen’s Test debut came on June 5, 2003, against Zimbabwe and his last Test was on December 2, 2003, against Sri Lanka. On the other hand, his ODI debut came on June 26, 2003, once again against Zimbabwe and his last ODI was on 18th November 2003 against Sri Lanka.
But his coaching career is well established. Johnson worked as a bowling coach for Middlesex from 2011 to 2018. When Middlesex's head coach was sacked, Johnson took over as the 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 Stuart Law. He then moved to Surrey (his hometown) as a bowling coach, before returning to Middlesex as their first-team coach in 2022.
Richard Leonard Johnson might have not been able to establish a name for himself in international cricket. Though his achievement in county cricket will remain unmatched and his legacy would be difficult to fulfil.
