eful
player--to wit, the lengthy William Gunn--is built on uncompromisingly
straight lines. Somebody said that if Gunn were to model his style on
Ranji's the result would be a sea-serpent--six and a half feet of
curves.

Briggs has so many attitudes and antics of his own that he can't be said
to have any characteristic pose. In everything he does he's "Johnny."
Briggs may be said to have just missed greatness by a lack of
seriousness. According to George Giffen, if he had only taken batting
more seriously Briggs would have been, after W. G. Grace, the second
best all-round cricketer in England. There's a deadly earnestness about
his bowling and fielding, but as a batsman he always seems more anxious
to amuse the spectators than to improve his average. Like other famous
men, Johnny Briggs may be often misunderstood, but at any rate this is
the impression he creates. About six years ago, in the middle of the
cricket season, Briggs appeared to have suddenly gone "stale," and the
Lancashire Committee suggested to him that he should take a week's
holiday. Briggs selected a remote village in Wiltshire; but, as luck
would have it, the villagers were particularly keen cricketers, and when
the news got about that the great Briggs was in their midst, the captain
of the local team at once waited on him to ask what would be his terms
for playing in a match against a neighbouring town.

[Illustration: JOHNNY BRIGGS MEANS BUSINESS.]

"I asked," says Briggs, "what I thought were absolutely prohibitive
terms, namely, L10; but the terms were accepted, so of course I had to
play. My side lost the toss, and I had to begin the bowling. My first
ball was hit out of the ground for six, and in a short time 100 went up
with no wicket down. I suggested to the captain that he had better let
someone else bowl, but he said that if he took me off, the spectators
who kept pouring into the ground would want their money back, and would
see that they got it, too. Finally, I had two wickets for about 120
runs. The crowd looked a trifle nasty, but what finished them was when I
went in to bat and was bowled second ball.

[Illustration: A RARE CATCH.]

"As I left the ground I heard, 'That's him. 'E's no blooming Briggs,
'e's a blooming fraud. Let's give him a jolly hiding.' Only the railway
station and a couple of stalwart policemen saved me from the jolly good
hiding, and I have never tried village cricket since."

[Illustration: AND TAKES A WICKET