Date-stamped : 08 Jul94 - 18:27 CC: Derbyshire v Middlesex, Derby, 30 Jun - 2 Jul 94 ====> Day 3, 2 Jul 94 Johnson gets perfect 10 with imperfect bowling. Charles Randall sees fortune smile on Middlesex's young seamer. Richard Johnson's astonishing second-innings figures of 10 for 45 for Middlesex at Derby on Saturday were all the more remarkable for the fact that, by his own admission, he did not bowl particu- larly well. The Middlesex seam-bowler is the 56th bowler to take all 10 wickets in a first-class innings in England - the first full house since Ian Thomson's for Sussex in 1964 - but he must have been the first to do so on a covered pitch. He became the fifth Middlesex player on the list after Gubby Allen (1929), Al- bert Trott (1900), George Burton (1888) and Vyell Walker, the lob bowler who succeeded twice, in 1859 and 1865. On a strange, muggy afternoon, Derbyshire's batting was fragile and possibly demoral- ised, but Johnson did not rip through in the way that his figures might suggest. He bowled well in his 19 overs, but not that well. He acknowledged afterwards that he rarely swung the ball and that there had been no jagging movement off the seam. The two first- innings totals had spawned 889 runs. Derbyshire's upper order, facing an innings defeat, played with an aggression that for a while bordered on the reckless. Only at the tea interval, with all seven wickets in Johnson's pocket, did the penny drop that a 19-year-old county beginner could make history. The small crowd lolling contentedly around Derby's County Ground began to live every ball - positive thoughts at Johnson's end, negative at the other. Simon Base was first to go after tea, departing lbw with an agonised dawdle as though he thought he had touched the ball before it rapped his pads. Colin Wells, unruffled for 24 overs since his arrival at 35 for five, suddenly misjudged the length and was bowled on the back foot. At this point Mike Gatting, who had never witnessed an "all 10" at any level, introduced a quirky touch by bringing on Desmond Haynes's occasional seamers solely to ensure no wicket fell at the other end, a task that needed cunning against Devon Malcolm's impetu- osity. The crowd gasped when last man Malcolm twice scythed expansively, bottom-edging one on to the wicketkeeper's boot. It sounded at first as though he had been bowled. Even Derbyshire partisans sighed with relief. Next over Johnson's perfect seamer left the obdurate Taylor off the pitch and arrowed into Mark Ramprakash's hands at third slip. Middlesex's seen-it-all professionals went into an ecstatic World Cup huddle. Gatting said afterwards: "It was an amazing after- noon. He's still got a bit to learn, but he's going to be a very useful bowler. Over the winter we felt there was something spe- cial there. He could probably swing the ball more, but that will come." Johnson, calm and incredulous after the event, with the match ball safely tucked into his bag, admitted he could not remember taking more than six wickets at any level. His previous best for Middlesex was four for 64 against Durham - the previous week. This is, after all, his first full season since his debut last year. Whatever the merit of Saturday's performance or Johnson's achievement of twice dismissing Brian Lara in May, it is clear Middlesex have nourished a very good bowler through the county's age-group system. His emergence reflects credit on Don Bennett and the lesser-known coaches who guided him from under-11 onwards. Johnson, of Sunbury-on-Thames, hinted at a bright future with a successful England Under-19 tour on Sri Lanka's dead pitches last winter. (Extracted from a Charles Randall article in The Daily Telegraph) Contributed by Vicky (VIGNESWA@*umass.edu)