John McMahon (cricketer)
Encyclopedia
John William Joseph McMahon (28 December 1917 - 8 May 2001) was an Australian-born
first-class
cricket
er who played for Surrey
and Somerset
in England from 1947 to 1957.
at The Oval
, he took five wickets for 81 runs.
In his first full season, 1948, he was Surrey's leading wicket-taker and in the last home game of the season he was awarded his county cap – he celebrated by taking eight Northamptonshire
wickets for 46 runs at The Oval, six of them coming in the space of 6.3 overs for seven runs. This would remain the best bowling performance of his first-class career, not surpassed, but he did equal it seven years later. In the following game, the last away match of the season, he took 10 Hampshire
wickets for 150 runs in the match at Bournemouth
. In the 1948 season as a whole, he took 91 wickets at an average of 28.07. As a tail-end left-handed batsman, he managed just 93 runs in the season at an average of 4.22.
The emergence of Tony Lock
as a slow left-arm bowler in 1949 brought a stuttering end of McMahon's Surrey career. Though he played in 12 first-class matches in the 1949 season, McMahon took only 19 wickets; a similar number of matches in 1950 brought 34 wickets. In 1951, he played just seven times and in 1952 only three times. In 1953, Lock split the first finger of his left hand, and played in only 11 of Surrey's County Championship
matches; McMahon played as his deputy in 14 Championship matches, though a measure of their comparative merits was that Lock's 11 games produced 67 wickets at 12.38 runs apiece, while McMahon's 14 games brought him 45 wickets at the, for him, low average of 21.53. At the end of the 1953 season, McMahon was allowed to leave Surrey to join Somerset, then languishing at the foot of the County Championship and recruiting widely from other counties and other countries.
, with support from the off-spin of Jim Hilton
while promising off-spinner Brian Langford
was on National Service
. McMahon filled a vacancy for a left-arm orthodox spinner that had been there since the retirement of Horace Hazell
at the end of the 1952 season. He instantly became a first-team regular and played in almost every match during his four years with the county, not missing a single Championship game until he was controversially dropped from the side in August 1957, after which he did not play in the Championship again.
In the 1954 season, McMahon, alongside fellow newcomer Hilton, was something of a disappointment, according to Wisden: "The new spin bowlers, McMahon and Hilton, did not attain to the best standards of their craft in a wet summer, yet, like the rest of the attack, they would have fared better with reasonable support in the field and from their own batsmen," it said. McMahon took 85 wickets at an average of 27.47 (Hilton took only 42 at a higher average). His best match was against Essex
at Weston-super-Mare
where he took six for 96 in the first innings and five for 45 in the second to finish with match figures of 11 for 141, which were the best of his career. He was awarded his county cap in the 1954 season, but Somerset remained at the bottom of the table.
The figures for the 1955 were similar: McMahon this time took 75 wickets at 28.77 apiece. There was a small improvement in his batting: for the first time in his career, he was playing in a side with a worse batsman than himself, and the arrival of Bryan Lobb
elevated McMahon to No 10 in the batting order for most of the season, and he responded with 262 runs and an average of 9.03. This included his highest-ever score, 24, made in the match against Sussex
at Frome
. A week later in Somerset's next match, he equalled his best-ever bowling performance, taking eight Kent
wickets for 46 runs in the first innings of a match at Yeovil
through what Wisden called "clever variation of flight and spin". These matches brought two victories for Somerset, but there were only two others in the 1955 season and the side finished at the bottom of the Championship for the fourth season running.
At the end of the 1955 season, Lawrence retired and McMahon became Somerset's senior spin bowler for the 1956 season, with Langford returning from National Service as the main support. McMahon responded with his most successful season so far, taking 103 wickets at an average of 25.57, the only season in his career in which he exceeded 100 wickets. The bowling average improved still further in 1957 to 23.10 when McMahon took 86 wickets. But his season came to an abrupt end in mid-August 1957 when, after 108 consecutive Championship matches, he was dropped from the first team during the Weston-super-Mare festival. Though he played some games for the second eleven later in August, he regained his place in the first team for only a single end-of-season friendly match, and he was told that his services were not required for the future, a decision, said Wisden, that "proved highly controversial".
in Nottingham when he beheaded the gladioli with an ornamental sword, crying: 'When Mac drinks, everybody drinks!'" The obituary recounts a further escapade in second eleven match at Midsomer Norton
where a curfew imposed on the team was circumvented by "a POW-type loop" organised by McMahon, "with his team-mates escaping through a ground-storey window and then presenting themselves again". As the only Somerset second eleven match that McMahon played in at Midsomer Norton was right at the end of the 1957 season, this may have been the final straw. But in any case there had been "an embarrassing episode at Swansea's Grand Hotel" earlier in the season, also involving Jim Hilton, who was also dismissed at the end of the season. Team-mates and club members petitioned for McMahon to be reinstated, but the county club was not to be moved.
After a period in Lancashire League cricket with Milnrow Cricket Club, McMahon moved back to London where he did office work, later contributing some articles to cricket magazines.
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
first-class
First-class cricket
First-class cricket is a class of cricket that consists of matches of three or more days' scheduled duration, that are between two sides of eleven players and are officially adjudged first-class by virtue of the standard of the competing teams...
cricket
Cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...
er who played for Surrey
Surrey County Cricket Club
Surrey County Cricket Club is one of the 18 professional county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Surrey. Its limited overs team is called the Surrey Lions...
and Somerset
Somerset County Cricket Club
Somerset County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Somerset...
in England from 1947 to 1957.
Surrey cricketer
McMahon was an orthodox left-arm spin bowler with much variation in speed and flight who was spotted by Surrey playing in club cricket in North London and brought on to the county's staff for the 1947 season at the age of 29. In the first innings of his first match, against LancashireLancashire County Cricket Club
Lancashire County Cricket Club represents the historic county of Lancashire in cricket's County Championship. The club was founded in 1864 as a successor to Manchester Cricket Club and has played at Old Trafford since then...
at The Oval
The Oval
The Kia Oval, still commonly referred to by its original name of The Oval, is an international cricket ground in Kennington, in the London Borough of Lambeth. In the past it was also sometimes called the Kennington Oval...
, he took five wickets for 81 runs.
In his first full season, 1948, he was Surrey's leading wicket-taker and in the last home game of the season he was awarded his county cap – he celebrated by taking eight Northamptonshire
Northamptonshire County Cricket Club
Northamptonshire County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Northamptonshire. Its limited overs team is called the Northants Steelbacks. The traditional club colour is Maroon. During the...
wickets for 46 runs at The Oval, six of them coming in the space of 6.3 overs for seven runs. This would remain the best bowling performance of his first-class career, not surpassed, but he did equal it seven years later. In the following game, the last away match of the season, he took 10 Hampshire
Hampshire County Cricket Club
Hampshire County Cricket Club represents the historic county of Hampshire in cricket's County Championship. The club was founded in 1863 as a successor to the Hampshire county cricket teams and has played at the Antelope Ground from then until 1885, before moving to the County Ground where it...
wickets for 150 runs in the match at Bournemouth
Bournemouth
Bournemouth is a large coastal resort town in the ceremonial county of Dorset, England. According to the 2001 Census the town has a population of 163,444, making it the largest settlement in Dorset. It is also the largest settlement between Southampton and Plymouth...
. In the 1948 season as a whole, he took 91 wickets at an average of 28.07. As a tail-end left-handed batsman, he managed just 93 runs in the season at an average of 4.22.
The emergence of Tony Lock
Tony Lock
Graham Anthony Richard Lock was an English cricketer, who played primarily as a left-arm spinner. He played in forty nine Tests for England taking 174 wickets at 25.58 each.-Life and career:...
as a slow left-arm bowler in 1949 brought a stuttering end of McMahon's Surrey career. Though he played in 12 first-class matches in the 1949 season, McMahon took only 19 wickets; a similar number of matches in 1950 brought 34 wickets. In 1951, he played just seven times and in 1952 only three times. In 1953, Lock split the first finger of his left hand, and played in only 11 of Surrey's County Championship
County Championship
The County Championship is the domestic first-class cricket competition in England and Wales...
matches; McMahon played as his deputy in 14 Championship matches, though a measure of their comparative merits was that Lock's 11 games produced 67 wickets at 12.38 runs apiece, while McMahon's 14 games brought him 45 wickets at the, for him, low average of 21.53. At the end of the 1953 season, McMahon was allowed to leave Surrey to join Somerset, then languishing at the foot of the County Championship and recruiting widely from other counties and other countries.
Somerset cricketer
Somerset's slow bowling in 1954 was in the hands of leg-spinner Johnny LawrenceJohnny Lawrence
John Lawrence, known as "Johnny", was a diminutive Yorkshire-born all-round cricketer whose middle or lower order batting and leg-break and googly bowling were of great importance to Somerset in the 10 cricket seasons immediately after the Second World War.-Early career and playing style:Born at...
, with support from the off-spin of Jim Hilton
Jim Hilton
Jim Hilton , born in Werneth, Oldham, Lancashire, was a cricketer who played for Lancashire and Somerset....
while promising off-spinner Brian Langford
Brian Langford
Brian Anthony Langford , is a former English first-class cricketer who played as an off-spin bowler for Somerset...
was on National Service
National service
National service is a common name for mandatory government service programmes . The term became common British usage during and for some years following the Second World War. Many young people spent one or more years in such programmes...
. McMahon filled a vacancy for a left-arm orthodox spinner that had been there since the retirement of Horace Hazell
Horace Hazell
Horace Leslie Hazell was a cricketer who played for Somerset County Cricket Club in English first-class cricket....
at the end of the 1952 season. He instantly became a first-team regular and played in almost every match during his four years with the county, not missing a single Championship game until he was controversially dropped from the side in August 1957, after which he did not play in the Championship again.
In the 1954 season, McMahon, alongside fellow newcomer Hilton, was something of a disappointment, according to Wisden: "The new spin bowlers, McMahon and Hilton, did not attain to the best standards of their craft in a wet summer, yet, like the rest of the attack, they would have fared better with reasonable support in the field and from their own batsmen," it said. McMahon took 85 wickets at an average of 27.47 (Hilton took only 42 at a higher average). His best match was against Essex
Essex County Cricket Club
Essex County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh national cricket structure, representing the historic county of Essex. Its limited overs team is called the Essex Eagles, their team colours this season are blue.The club plays most of its home games...
at Weston-super-Mare
Clarence Park, Weston-super-Mare
Clarence Park was given to the town of Weston-super-Mare by Rebecca Davies in memory of her husband. The cricket pavilion at the park dates from 1882. A multitude of sports have been played at the park, including cricket. The ground is owned by the local council. It is currently used by...
where he took six for 96 in the first innings and five for 45 in the second to finish with match figures of 11 for 141, which were the best of his career. He was awarded his county cap in the 1954 season, but Somerset remained at the bottom of the table.
The figures for the 1955 were similar: McMahon this time took 75 wickets at 28.77 apiece. There was a small improvement in his batting: for the first time in his career, he was playing in a side with a worse batsman than himself, and the arrival of Bryan Lobb
Bryan Lobb
Bryan Lobb was a first-class cricketer who played once for Warwickshire and then more than 100 times for Somerset.-Style and personality:...
elevated McMahon to No 10 in the batting order for most of the season, and he responded with 262 runs and an average of 9.03. This included his highest-ever score, 24, made in the match against Sussex
Sussex County Cricket Club
Sussex County Cricket Club is the oldest of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Sussex. The club was founded as a successor to Brighton Cricket Club which was a representative of the county of Sussex as a...
at Frome
Frome
Frome is a town and civil parish in northeast Somerset, England. Located at the eastern end of the Mendip Hills, the town is built on uneven high ground, and centres around the River Frome. The town is approximately south of Bath, east of the county town, Taunton and west of London. In the 2001...
. A week later in Somerset's next match, he equalled his best-ever bowling performance, taking eight Kent
Kent County Cricket Club
Kent County Cricket Club is one of the 18 first class county county cricket clubs which make up the English and Welsh national cricket structure, representing the county of Kent...
wickets for 46 runs in the first innings of a match at Yeovil
Johnson Park, Yeovil
Johnson Park is a multi-purpose sports ground on the northern outskirts of Yeovil, Somerset and is home to the Yeovil Sports and Social Club . Between 1951 and 1967, Somerset County Cricket Club played 12 first-class cricket matches on the ground, and Somerset also played two List A matches there,...
through what Wisden called "clever variation of flight and spin". These matches brought two victories for Somerset, but there were only two others in the 1955 season and the side finished at the bottom of the Championship for the fourth season running.
At the end of the 1955 season, Lawrence retired and McMahon became Somerset's senior spin bowler for the 1956 season, with Langford returning from National Service as the main support. McMahon responded with his most successful season so far, taking 103 wickets at an average of 25.57, the only season in his career in which he exceeded 100 wickets. The bowling average improved still further in 1957 to 23.10 when McMahon took 86 wickets. But his season came to an abrupt end in mid-August 1957 when, after 108 consecutive Championship matches, he was dropped from the first team during the Weston-super-Mare festival. Though he played some games for the second eleven later in August, he regained his place in the first team for only a single end-of-season friendly match, and he was told that his services were not required for the future, a decision, said Wisden, that "proved highly controversial".
Sacked by Somerset
The reason behind McMahon's sacking did not become public knowledge for many years. In its obituary of him in 2002, McMahon was described by Wisden as "a man who embraced the antipodean virtues of candour and conviviality". It went on: "Legend tells of a night at the Flying Horse InnFlying Horse Inn
The Flying Horse Inn is a former public house in Nottingham. It was established around 1483. It is a Grade II listed building.It stands upon the site of the house which the Plumptre family erected for themselves when they first came to Nottingham in the 13th century.The first information of "The...
in Nottingham when he beheaded the gladioli with an ornamental sword, crying: 'When Mac drinks, everybody drinks!'" The obituary recounts a further escapade in second eleven match at Midsomer Norton
Midsomer Norton
Midsomer Norton is a town near the Mendip Hills in Somerset, England, south-west of Bath, north-east of Wells, north-west of Frome, and south-east of Bristol. It has a population of 10,458. Along with Radstock and Westfield it used to be part of the conurbation and large civil parish of Norton...
where a curfew imposed on the team was circumvented by "a POW-type loop" organised by McMahon, "with his team-mates escaping through a ground-storey window and then presenting themselves again". As the only Somerset second eleven match that McMahon played in at Midsomer Norton was right at the end of the 1957 season, this may have been the final straw. But in any case there had been "an embarrassing episode at Swansea's Grand Hotel" earlier in the season, also involving Jim Hilton, who was also dismissed at the end of the season. Team-mates and club members petitioned for McMahon to be reinstated, but the county club was not to be moved.
After a period in Lancashire League cricket with Milnrow Cricket Club, McMahon moved back to London where he did office work, later contributing some articles to cricket magazines.