Martin Johnson, one of the many cuts made to the sports desk staff at the Telegraph, has been hired by the Sunday Times to write columns on Test match cricket, beginning with the forthcoming series between England and the West Indies.
Johnson’s first job on a national title was as cricket correspondent at the launch of The Independent, a role he filled for a decade before joining the Telegraph as a general sports features writer.
Johnson began his career covering rugby and cricket for the Leicester Mercury, before joining the Independent in 1986. There, he built a reputation for wit-laden writing, which he expanded to a broader sports features role when he joined the Telegraph in 1995.
A year after joining the Telegraph he was named SJA Feature Writer of the Year, and has since been “highly commended†several times in both the British Press Awards and the SJA Sports Journalism Awards.
His books include the “autobiography†of David Gower and Can’t Bat, Can’t Bowl, Can’t Field – the best cricket writings of M Johnson.
At the Sunday Times, his weekly writings will sit alongside the paper’s highly regarded cricket correspondent, Simon Wilde, and will be an important feature during this summer’s Ashes series.
More on sports desk job cuts:
200 jobs under threat at Wapping?
Listings mag calls time out on sports editor
No more tomorrows for Non-League Today
Record’s sports editor leaves in Glasgow cull
All Herald staff made redundant
Mair and Knight leave Telegraph; Buckley goes from Obs
Chadband among casualties in Derry Street
Fraser quits Independent to return to Middlesex
Express to cut more than 70 jobs
Sports desk at centre of Telegraph concern
Click here to see a timeline of journalism job losses