John Augustine Snow (born 13 October, 1941) played cricket for Sussex and England in the 1960s and 1970s. Despite being the son of a country vicar and publishing two volumes of poetry Snow was England’s most formidable fast bowler between Fred Trueman and Bob Willis and played Test Matches with both of them at either end of his career. He is known for bowling England to victory against the West Indies in 1967-1968 and Australia in 1970-1971 and was a Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1973. Snow was involved in several on-field incidents stemming from his aggressive, short-pitched bowling. He was considered difficult to handle, had definite ideas on how and when he should bowl and was disciplined by both Sussex and England, but perfectly fitted the public image of a fiery fast bowler. His disdain for the cricketing authorities at Sussex and Lord’s was aptly summed up in his autobiography Cricket Rebel as was his decision to play for Kerry Packer’s World Series Cricket in 1977-1979.
Snow in his delivery stride
Snow was born in Peopleton, Worcestershire, the son of a Scottish vicar who soon after took up a living in the Diocese of Worcester at the village of Elmley Castle. When he was born his grandfather, a cricket coach, rang his father in Scotland to announce that “It’s a young cricketer!” and he was given a cricket bat to chew when he was a baby. He learned how to play in the three-acre grounds of the vicarage with his father, mother, grandfather and three sisters and later in village matches. Snow’s rural childhood was completely unaffected by the war or rationing and he used to chop down trees for firewood, excellent exercise for the muscles needed for fast bowling (Frank Tyson was once a tree-feller). First educated at Christ’s Hospital, he moved to Chichester High School for Boys the year before his father became vicar at nearby Bognor Regis, where he was trained by the Warwickshire batsman Len Bates. Living in Sussex he joined the Bognor Colts, as had Peter May and David Sheppard before him, and had the great honour of being bowled by Frank Worrell when they played Antilles. He also began playing games for the Sussex Young Amateurs and Junior Martlets. As a teenager he had been a better batsman than a bowler, but as more boys wanted to bat than bowl he concentrated on the latter. After school he attended Culham Teachers Training College near Abingdon, but his studies suffered as he played more First Class Cricket. He played rugby for Christ Hospital and Chichester High School 1st XVs, but gave up the game in 1961 as it interfered with his cricket career.
John Snow in Action
Praise for John Snow’s Bowling Style and Ability
Lindsay Hassett: “Snow’s loping, almost lazy run, of course, is sinisterly deceptive. It is in that last stride, or last two strides, when that long, straight powerful arm gathers its impetus and either whips or coasts through, that the potential is born.”
Richard Whitington: ” Snow started his First Class Cricket and Test Match career as a fast-medium seam bowler, but when he was not chosen for the 1965-66 Ashes tour of Australia he played club cricket in South Africa and re-modelled his bowling action. He had bowled slightly chest-on, which restricted his pace and ability to move the ball. His work resulted in a more classical sideways-on action. This new style pleased the purists who referred to his “graceful, yet deadly, action”, and “beautifully easy and controlled bowling method, slanting the ball into the batsman but also cutting it sharply off the pitch”.
The Nawab of Pataudi, Captain of Sussex: Ideally a bowler of John Snow’s tremendous pace should be used in short spells with adequate rest in between and he is usually more impressive and effective as a result. I knew this as well as he did but much as I wanted to help him, I had to be tough with John. Often I was forced to keep him on for lengthy spells because this was necessary for the team’s success.
Once Snow was established in the side and a Test bowler Sussex used him used for long spells on unresponsive wickets and he gained a reputation for “not trying” and he occasionally refused to bowl. Snow berated “the Sussex committee for their lack of guidance, initiative, communication, drive and general handling, which affected the growth of the club and team spirit”. They in turn were displeased that he saved his best bowling for England. Nevertheless Snow took 883 wickets at 21.3 for Sussex in 1961-1977 and was by far their most successful bowler of the period.
John Snow School 1ST XI 1960
Snow started his First Class Cricket and Test Match career as a fast-medium seam bowler, but when he was not chosen for the 1965-1966 Ashes tour of Australia he played club cricket in South Africa and re-modelled his bowling action. He had bowled slightly chest-on, which restricted his pace and ability to move the ball. His work resulted in a more classical sideways-on action. This new style pleased the purists who referred to his “graceful, yet deadly, action”, and “beautifully easy and controlled bowling method, slanting the ball into the batsman, but also cutting it sharply off the pitch”. However, Snow usually bowled only fast-medium in run-of-the-mill county and tour games and saved his fast bowling for Test Matches and when the mood took him on the pacey wickets at Hove. The best example is the Australian Tour of 1970-1971 when he took 31 wickets at 22.83 in the six tests, but only 7 wickets at 71.57 in the six other first-class matches on the tour. Even in Tests “he varied his pace cleverly, rarely bowling flat-out for a whole over, but unleashing the odd very quick delivery. Just like Charlie Griffith in the West Indies side of the 1960s, Snow had the ability to drop the ball slightly short and get it to lift painfully into the batsmen’s body”
England versus the Rest of the World 1970
Test Career
John Snow played a total of 54 Tests (Including five versus Rest of the World) between 1965 and 1976 and took a total of 221 wickets in all Tests. He took 5 wickets in an innings on eight occasions, 4 times against West Indies and 4 times versus Australia, his best figures being 7 for 49 against the West Indies in 1967-1968 in the 2nd Test and the Ashes winning performance of 7 for 40 in the 4th Test against Australia in the 1970-1971 tour when he took a total of 31 wickets in that series. Other superb series for him were 1967-1968 vs Windies Tour where his haul was 27 wickets in Tests and against Australia in 1972 when he took a total of 24 wickets.
John Snow versus Australia 1975
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