John Watkins (Australian cricketer) facts for kids

John Russell Watkins, born on April 16, 1943, is a former Australian cricketer. He played in one important Test match in 1973.

About John Watkins

Early Cricket Days

John Watkins was born in Newcastle, New South Wales. This is where he played most of his cricket. He started playing for the Waratah-Mayfield District Cricket Club in the late 1950s. For four seasons, he traveled to Sydney. There he played for the Western Suburbs District Cricket Club. He played under the guidance of former Test cricketer Alan Davidson.

In 1959–60, John played for Sydney Metropolitan Colts. He took 5 wickets for only 16 runs against Tasmania. That same summer, he played for Newcastle against a touring Fijian team. He also played against Newcastle for the NSW Country Second XI.

John played for NSW Colts in 1960–61. He scored 81 runs as an opening batsman for Northern New South Wales. This was in a game against Southern NSW.

More Youth Success

In 1961–62, John took three wickets in just one over. This happened in a Colts game against Queensland. That summer, he also took 6 wickets for 66 runs against Southern NSW. In 1962–63, he scored 94 runs in a Colts game against Queensland. He had a great partnership with Doug Walters, scoring over 100 runs together. In 1964–65, he took seven wickets in a Colts game against Queensland. He continued playing for NSW Colts the next summer.

Eventually, John got tired of traveling to Sydney. He stopped playing grade cricket there. However, he became well-known when he played for Northern New South Wales. This was in a match against the touring Indian team in 1967–68. He took ten wickets in that game. The next summer, he took 5 wickets for 42 runs for Newcastle against the ACT. In a later match in 1969–70, he scored 66 runs without being out. The following year, he took 5 wickets for 57 runs and then 6 wickets for 54 runs. He played for Northern NSW against the touring English team in 1970–71. He had less success in that game compared to his performance against the Indians.

First-Class Debut

In 1971–72, John Watkins took 4 wickets for 99 runs for Northern NSW. This was against the touring World XI team. He even got the wicket of famous player Graeme Pollock. He also played for NSW against "The Thrashers" that summer. He took 4 wickets for 19 runs, including the wickets of Richie Benaud and Neil Harvey.

A few weeks later, he was chosen to play for New South Wales. This happened after John Gleeson had to pull out due to an injury. In his first innings, John took 4 wickets for 72 runs. His victims included Ian Chappell and Greg Chappell.

The 1972–73 Season

At the start of the 1972–73 season, John Gleeson was removed from the NSW team. John Watkins took his place. However, in four Sheffield Shield matches, he only took six wickets. All six wickets were taken in one game against Victoria. His wickets included Graham Yallop.

John's great performance of 6 wickets for 38 runs helped Northern New South Wales win against the touring Pakistan team. This led the national selectors to choose him for the Third Test match. This big game was held at the Sydney Cricket Ground a month later. He was chosen as the only spin bowler. At this point, he had only played five first-class matches. In those matches, he had taken 10 wickets. In contrast, in his four matches for Northern New South Wales against touring teams, he had taken 24 wickets. Ashley Mallett had to leave the team for business reasons. The selectors decided to take three leg-spinners on the tour to the West Indies. These were John Watkins, Terry Jenner, and Kerry O'Keeffe.

John bowled poorly in his next game for NSW against Victoria.

His Only Test Match

Before his Test debut, a writer named Rohan Rivett wrote about John. He said that many people would feel for John when he played. His selection was questioned by a former Australian Test captain. But the selectors stuck to their decision. So, John got his big chance against very experienced batsmen.

In the Test match, John did not bowl very accurately. He took no wickets in his short time bowling. He later said that his bad bowling that day was his only regret in cricket. He wished he could have another chance. He felt it hurt most because he knew what he could do. He said it sometimes haunted him, but it was part of life. The only person who supported him after he bowled was Keith Stackpole. Keith told him it was not easy at first. John felt it was kind of him to say that. He said he had one chance and he messed it up. He lost his confidence after that.

Batting and Catch

In Australia's second innings, the team was struggling. They had lost eight wickets and only had a lead of 75 runs. John had a great partnership with Bob Massie. They added 83 runs together for the ninth wicket. This gave Australia enough runs to win the match by a small margin. John scored 36 runs. Before this, he had only scored 12 runs in his previous five first-class matches. He did not bowl in the second innings. But he took the catch that won Australia the match.

John said he was happy he got something good out of the game with his batting and the catch. He and Massie just kept going, hoping for the best. He was not nervous and felt quite relaxed. He knew he could always bat well.

West Indies Tour

The tour of the West Indies started badly for Australia. Players like Bob Massie and Dennis Lillee got injured. This meant there was a real chance John Watkins could play another Test. However, he was the 12th man for 3 out of the first five games.

He took 2 wickets for 28 runs against the Leeward Islands. Then he took four wickets against the Trinidad and Tobago team. John also took four wickets against Guyana, including the famous Clive Lloyd. But he could not get into the Test team. He took no wickets against the Windward Islands. This turned out to be his last first-class game. His entire first-class career, which included 10 matches, lasted only 14 months.

In the match against Trinidad and Tobago, Doug Walters jokingly told John to whistle "What Shall We Do With The Drunken Sailor?" while he ran to bowl. John did it, which made Walters laugh. But John still bowled wide of the stumps.

John thought about his experience. He said that when you lose confidence, you do not want to bowl again. He had no confidence on the West Indies tour. Even though he took 17 wickets at a good average, he only bowled about 78 overs on the tour. He said losing confidence is not a nice feeling. He could not do what he used to do. He was sorry it happened on the wrong day in Sydney. He believed if he had been himself, he would have played more Test cricket. He appreciated the experience in the Caribbean. But after three months with no confidence in his bowling, he was happy to go home.

Later Career

John Watkins was dropped from the NSW team at the start of the 1973–74 season. He continued to play club cricket, mostly as a batsman, in Newcastle. He worked for a shipping company there.

In 1976–77, he took 4 wickets for 66 runs for Newcastle against Sydney.