John Human

John Hanbury Human (Gosforth, Northumberland 16 January 1912 – Sydney, New South Wales, Australia 22 July 1991) was an English cricketer.

John Human was educated at Repton and Clare College, Cambridge.^[1] He toured twice with the MCC and was considered unlucky not to be capped by England. He toured India while still an undergraduate, but could not force his way into a strong batting side. He toured Australia and New Zealand under Errol Holmes in 1935–36 and played in each of the four unofficial Tests. These were not granted official status, despite having a team as strong as the 1929/1930 XI.

He played in 49 first-class matches for Middlesex, 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, 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.

Human settled in Sydney and married Mollie Walder (daughter of Sir Samuel Walder, the Lord Mayor),^[2] whom he had met on the boat to Australia for the 1935–36 tour, and entered a business career. He broadcast frequently on cricket.

Full career figures: 5,246 runs, at an average of 35.69; 73 wickets, at 34.23 and 66 catches.

His older brother Roger Human played 59 first-class matches in the 1930s.

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