Ivan Johnson Cricketer

Ivan Nicholas Johnson (born 27 June 1953) is a Bahamas-born former English cricketer who played for Worcestershire in the 1970s. He was born in Nassau. Johnson played a number of Second XI matches for Worcestershire from 1969 onwards (and a single game for Northamptonshire seconds in 1971), but made his first-class debut for Worcestershire in June 1972 in a drawn match against Oxford University. He took the wickets of Michael Heal and Barry May in Oxford's only innings, and scored 7 not out and 1 not out with the bat. He was retained for the County Championship clash with Warwickshire which followed immediately, but managed only 0-28 from eight overs, and duly returned to the seconds. In July Johnson took 7-57 for the Second XI against Warwickshire II and was immediately called back into the first team, where he remained for half a dozen games (three each of first-class and List A). There were no outstanding performances, however, and his bowling was rather expensive at times, and after these few weeks he did not play at all for the rest of the season. 1973 was Johnson's best year in the professional game. He played 21 first-class games, scoring 475 runs at 20.65, including three half-centuries, and took 15 wickets, albeit at a very expensive average of over 51. In his 24 one-day matches he fared better, again claiming 15 wickets but at a much superior average of 27.20; he also occasionally contributed some useful runs from number seven or eight. Johnson played only sporadically for the first team during the next two years, and mostly there was little for Worcestershire's supporters to get excited about. He did, however, manage two first-class career bests. In May against Nottinghamshire he scored 69, while in what proved to be his very last first-team match, against Oxford University in late June, he claimed 5-74 in the second innings.