John Hanbury Human (16 January 1912 – 22 July 1991) was an English

cricketer Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

who played

first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is of three or more days scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officially adju ...

in the 1930s before moving to Australia.

Cricket career

John Human was educated at

Repton Repton is a village and civil parish in the South Derbyshire district of Derbyshire, England, located on the edge of the River Trent floodplain, about north of Swadlincote. The population taken at the 2001 census was 2,707, increasing to 2 ...

and

Clare College, Cambridge Clare College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England. The college was founded in 1326 as University Hall, making it the second-oldest surviving college of the Unive ...

. He toured twice with the MCC and was considered unlucky not to be capped by England. He toured India in 1933-34 while still an undergraduate, but could not force his way into a strong batting side. He toured

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

and

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

under

Errol Holmes Errol Reginald Thorold Holmes (21 August 1905 – 16 August 1960) was an English cricketer who played first-class cricket for Oxford University, Surrey and England between 1924 and 1955. A dashing right-handed batsman, Holmes believed that cri ...

in 1935–36 and played in each of the four unofficial Tests in New Zealand. He played in 49 first-class matches for

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, former county in South East England, now mainly within Greater London. Its boundaries largely followed three rivers: the River Thames, Thames in the south, the River Lea, Le ...

, scoring 1,703 runs, with three hundreds, the highest being his 144 at the Oval in 1935, when he and Hendren added 285 in 210 minutes. That was the year of the "leather-jackets" at

Lord's Lord's Cricket Ground, commonly known as Lord's, is a cricket List of Test cricket grounds, venue in St John's Wood, Westminster. Named after its founder, Thomas Lord, it is owned by Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and is the home of Middlesex C ...

, when crane fly larvae ate much of the grass on the pitch, and also of a change in the LBW law. Most of the Middlesex batsmen were out of form, only Human and Hendren scoring hundreds. Human was a tall and powerful batsman; Terence Prittie wrote that "his driving stands out in an era when the development of back-play and leg-side technique has put forward play at a discount". He also bowled leg-spin and was a sprightly field.

Later life

Human settled in

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

and married Mollie Walder (daughter of Sir Samuel Walder, the Lord Mayor), whom he had met on the boat to Australia for the 1935–36 tour. He served in the Australian Army in

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

with the rank of

major Major most commonly refers to: * Major (rank), a military rank * Academic major, an academic discipline to which an undergraduate student formally commits * People named Major, including given names, surnames, nicknames * Major and minor in musi ...

. After the war he entered a business career. He also broadcast frequently on cricket. His older brother Roger Human played 59 first-class matches in the 1930s.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Human, John 1912 births 1991 deaths Cambridge University cricketers English cricketers Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers Middlesex cricketers People educated at Repton School Alumni of Clare College, Cambridge Gentlemen cricketers Berkshire cricketers English cricketers of 1919 to 1945 20th-century English sportsmen H. D. G. Leveson Gower's XI cricketers English emigrants to Australia Australian Army personnel of World War II Australian Army officers Sportspeople from Gosforth