John Human

Who was John Human?

John Hanbury Human was an English cricketer.

John Human was educated at Repton and Cambridge University. 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 1935/1936 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, and also of a change in the LBW law. The majority of the Middlesex batsmen were out of form, with 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.