Martin Johnson (23 June 1949 – 13 March 2021) was an English sports journalist who worked as a cricket correspondent of ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publishe ...

'', sports feature writer at the '' Daily Telegraph'' and as a writer for ''

The Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News UK, wh ...

''. Among the sports he covered in addition to cricket were rugby union, boxing, rowing, golf, show jumping and

the Olympics The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a vari ...

Life and career

After receiving his education at

Monmouth School Monmouth School for Boys is a public school (independent day and boarding school) for boys in Monmouth, Wales. The school was founded in 1614 with a bequest from William Jones, a successful merchant and trader. The School is run as a trust, ...

, Johnson joined the ''

South Wales Argus The ''South Wales Argus'' is a daily tabloid newspaper published in Newport, South Wales. ''The Argus'' is distributed in Newport, Blaenau Gwent, Caerphilly, Monmouthshire, and Torfaen. History The paper was founded as the ''South Wales Argus ...

''. He subsequently moved to the ''

Leicester Mercury The ''Leicester Mercury'' is a British regional newspaper for the city of Leicester and the neighbouring counties of Leicestershire and Rutland. The paper began in the 19th century as the ''Leicester Daily Mercury'' and later changed to its p ...

'', before joining ''The Independent'' in 1986. According to his ''Independent'' obituarist: "Readers were astonished and amused – and some bemused – by a hilarious wise-cracking correspondent with a unique style." Covering the England cricket tour of Australia in 1986-7, following a string of poor performances in the run-up to the first

Test Test(s), testing, or TEST may refer to: * Test (assessment), an educational assessment intended to measure the respondents' knowledge or other abilities Arts and entertainment * ''Test'' (2013 film), an American film * ''Test'' (2014 film), ...

, he famously wrote that there were only three things wrong with the English team: "They can’t bat, they can’t bowl and they can’t field." When England went on to comfortably win the Test series, he ended his piece summarising the tour with the pithy: "Right quote, wrong team." He worked for the ''Daily Telegraph'' between 1995 and 2008, and subsequently for ''The Sunday Times''. Though an astute observer of the sports that he covered, he was not renowned as a news-getter, and in consequence was ironically known as "Scoop" by his press colleagues. He was also accident-prone. When sent by the ''Telegraph'' to cover a heavyweight boxing bout between

Lennox Lewis Lennox Claudius Lewis (born 2 September 1965) is a former professional boxer and boxing commentator who competed from 1989 to 2003. He is a three-time world heavyweight champion, a two-time lineal champion, and the last heavyweight to hol ...

and

Ray Mercer Raymond Anthony Mercer (born April 4, 1961) is an American former professional boxer, kickboxer, and mixed martial artist who competed from 1989 to 2009. Best known for his boxing career, Mercer won a heavyweight gold medal at the 1988 Summer O ...

, he arrived at the MGM Grand in

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish language, Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the List of United States cities by population, 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the U.S. state, state of Neva ...

to take his seat, only to be told that the fight was actually taking place in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...

on the opposite side of the country. He wrote of

David Gower David Ivon Gower (born 1 April 1957) is an English cricket commentator and former cricketer who was captain of the England cricket team during the 1980s. Described as one of the most stylish left-handed batsmen of his era, Gower played 117 Te ...

, the English batsman, that he was "so laid back, he’s almost horizontal"; on

Shane Warne Shane Keith Warne (13 September 1969 – 4 March 2022) was an Australian international cricketer, whose career ran from 1991 to 2007. Warne played as a right-arm leg spin bowler and a right-handed batsman for Victoria, Hampshire and Austral ...

’s delivery to dismiss

Mike Gatting Michael William Gatting (born 6 June 1957) is an English former cricketer, who played first-class cricket for Middlesex (1975–1998; captain 1983–1997) and for England from 1977 to 1995, captaining the national side in twenty-three Test ma ...

in 1993: "How anyone can spin a ball the width of Gatting boggles the mind"; on the bowler

Angus Fraser Angus Robert Charles Fraser (born 8 August 1965) is an English cricket administrator. He served as the managing director of Middlesex Cricket between 2009 and 2021, before assuming a new role heading the club's academy He is also a former E ...

running in "like a man who has got his braces caught on the sightcreen" (

sic The Latin adverb ''sic'' (; "thus", "just as"; in full: , "thus was it written") inserted after a quoted word or passage indicates that the quoted matter has been transcribed or translated exactly as found in the source text, complete with any e ...

); on

Merv Hughes Mervyn Gregory Hughes (born 23 November 1961) is a former Australian cricketer. A right-arm fast bowler, he represented Australia in 53 Test matches between 1985 and 1994, taking 212 wickets. He played 33 One Day Internationals, taking 38 wicke ...

, the Australian bowler, "He swings it both ways through the air (and that’s just his stomach) … his coiffeur appears to have been entrusted to an inebriated sheep shearer somewhere in the outback." Gower said of him: "Martin was a writer of great skill, and he wrote primarily to entertain himself. He was also fiercely independent and wasn’t afraid to put the boot in." His ''Telegraph'' obituarist finished his piece with: "Few men in our business have brought so much joy to so many." He was a keen golfer. He died on 13 March 2021 at the age of 71 after a long illness.

Bibliography

*"World Cup Cricket '87", with

Henry Blofeld Henry Calthorpe Blofeld, OBE (born 23 September 1939) nicknamed Blowers by Brian Johnston, is an English retired sports journalist, broadcaster and amateur ornithologist best known as a cricket commentator for ''Test Match Special'' on BBC Ra ...

, Kingswood Press, 1987, . *"The Ashes 1989", Simon & Schuster Ltd, 1989, . *"Gower: The Autobiography", with David Gower, CollinsWillow, 1992, . *"Can’t Bat, Can’t Bowl, Can’t Field", Willow, 1997, . *"Can I Carry Your Bags?: The Life of a Sports Hack Abroad", Constable, 2015, .

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Johnson, Martin English sports journalists English male writers People educated at Monmouth School for Boys Cricket writers British male journalists British sportswriters The Independent people The Daily Telegraph people The Sunday Times people 1949 births 2021 deaths