John Augustine Snow (born 13 October 1941) is a retired English international cricketer who played for Sussex from 1961 to 1977 and represented England in 49 Test matches. He was born in Peopleton, Worcestershire.
A right-arm fast bowler, Snow led the England attack from 1965 to 1976 and bridged the gap between Fred Trueman and Bob Willis; he played with both of them at either end of his career. His main achievements were bowling England to victory against West Indies in 1967–68, and against Australia in 1970–71. Snow batted right-handed as a useful tail-ender who scored eleven first-class half-centuries. He was considered a good outfielder with a strong throw. He was selected by Wisden Cricketers' Almanack (Wisden) as one of the five Wisden Cricketers of the Year in its 1973 edition. In 1974, his Sussex benefit season realised £18,000 (£137,811 in 2021 terms).
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 he 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 the title of his 1976 autobiography, Cricket Rebel, as was his decision to join World Series Cricket in 1977.
John Snow was born on 13 October 1941 in Peopleton, Worcestershire. His father, the Reverend William Snow, was a Scottish vicar who had taken up his living in the village of Elmley Castle, part of the Worcester Diocese. The Reverend Snow was a keen cricketer who wanted his son to become a first-class player. From the age of four, coached by his father, Snow learned how to play in the vicarage garden. His mother and three sisters joined in, mainly as fielders. As remarked in Wisden Cricketers' Almanack, the scenario recalled the Grace family in the 1850s. In April 1948, when Snow was six, his father took him to New Road, Worcester where Don Bradman was playing for the Australian tourists against Worcestershire. The Australians won the match by innings and 17 runs.
In the 1950s, the family left Worcestershire and moved to Sussex after the Reverend Snow was appointed to a ministry in Bognor Regis. Snow went to school at Christ's Hospital, near Horsham. He played cricket there and was coached by the former Warwickshire player Len Bates, who encouraged him to become a fast bowler. Snow played for the school's first XI as an all-rounder in his last two years there (1957–1958). When he was sixteen, his future teammate Ken Suttle recommended him to Sussex County Cricket Club as a promising batsman. Suttle held out little hope for Snow as a bowler, though, telling Sussex that "he sprays it around like a garden hose". Snow recalled that he decided to take Bates' advice because "more boys wanted to bat than bowl".
He joined the Bognor Colts club, whose former players included Peter May and David Sheppard. Snow played for the Colts against a team from the Antilles and was bowled out by Frank Worrell. At Sussex, he began playing in matches for their Junior Marlets team and, in 1960, the Sussex Young Amateurs. Snow also played rugby throughout his teens, as a full-back, but he gave up the game in 1961 to concentrate on cricket and education.
After he left Christ's Hospital, he was at the Chichester High School for Boys for a year. He gained a place at the Teachers' Training College in Culham, near Abingdon, Oxfordshire, taking a three-year course studying geography and physical education. As part of his training, he taught at Woodingdean County Primary School in what is now East Sussex to qualify as a teacher. During that time, he was only available for cricket in July and August, during the summer holidays.
In the early part of his career, Snow was classed as a seam bowler of fast-medium pace. He tended to bowl chest-on, which enabled him to bowl in-swing but restricted his speed.
During the winter of 1965–1966, at age 24 and having already played for England, Snow changed his action towards the classic sideways-on style used by Fred Trueman and other top bowlers. He did this while coaching and playing club cricket in South Africa, and Snow has said the process was helped by the less intense playing schedule in South Africa and the hard, fast and bouncy wickets. His work was successful and he became "a bowler of genuine pace". He also became able to bowl from nearer the wicket and with more control. His new style also 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". He had the ability, like Charlie Griffith of the West Indies, to drop the ball slightly short and "get it to lift painfully into the batsmen's body".
On 19 August 1961, when Snow was aged 19, he made his first-class debut for Sussex against Glamorgan at Cardiff Arms Park in a County Championship match. Sussex, captained by Don Smith, won the toss and chose to bat first. Snow was ninth man in and scored 12 runs in a total of 270. He was brought on to bowl near the end of the Glamorgan innings and took the wickets of Brian Evans (caught behind by Jim Parks) and Don Shepherd (caught by Richard Langridge) for a return of 2/12 in just 4.2 overs. Glamorgan were all out for 95. With a lead of 175, Sussex batted again and Smith declared during the final morning at 197/3, setting Glamorgan a target of 373 to win. Despite a century by Jim Pressdee, Glamorgan were all out for 248 and Sussex won by 124 runs. Snow bowled fifteen overs and took 3/67. His victims were Pressdee (caught by Robin Waters for 115), Don Ward (lbw) and Evans (bowled).
On 30 August, Snow made his home debut at the Manor Sports Ground in Worthing against Leicestershire, who won by 62 runs after Maurice Hallam scored 203* and 143*. Snow's figures were 1/76 and 0/19; he took the wicket of Robin Gardner who was caught by Langridge for 18. Batting at number 11, Snow scored 15* and 35*.
Also in 1961, Snow made his debut for the Sussex Second XI and played in six Second XI Championship matches between 6 July and 29 August. He played in five more matches for the Second XI over the next three seasons; his last appearance was in May 1964.
Snow made only one appearance in 1962 but his availability increased in 1963 and he played in twelve matches for Sussex, taking 29 wickets at 24.55. He achieved five wickets in an innings for the first time when he took 6/52 (8/85 in the match) against Derbyshire on the Central Recreation Ground at Hastings, although Sussex lost the match by 13 runs. In 1964, now playing a full season, he became a first team regular and, having taken 77 wickets at 22.20, was awarded his county cap. Sussex won the first two Gillette Cup competitions in 1963 and 1964. Snow played in both finals, taking 3/13 on his limited overs debut against Worcestershire in 1963, and 2/28 against Warwickshire in 1964.
In the early 1960s, Sussex had four specialist seam bowlers but for spin bowling they could only use the limited skills of their batsmen. This team structure served its purpose in the Gillette Cup and on the "green wicket" at Hove, but not elsewhere. Snow believes the lack of at least one specialist spin bowler cost them the County Championship in 1963, when they finished fourth, let down by being unable to win enough away matches.
Snow played for Sussex until 1977 and, taking 883 wickets (21.30), was by far their most successful bowler of the 1960s and 1970s. He was awarded a benefit season in 1974, which realised £18,000 (worth £137,811 in 2021). In 1975, he took his best first-class bowling figures of 8/87 (11/112 in the match) playing for Sussex against Middlesex at Lord's; Sussex won by 8 wickets.
New Zealand and South Africa, 1965
Snow made his Test debut for England against New Zealand at Lord's in the second Test of the 1965 series. New Zealand had already slumped to 28–4 when Snow was brought on, and he took two wickets before lunch: New Zealand captain John Reid was caught behind by Jim Parks and wicket-keeper Artie Dick was clean bowled. Snow strained a side muscle before the third Test, but returned to play in the second Test against South Africa at Trent Bridge. Here, brothers Graeme (126) and Peter Pollock (10/87) won the match for South Africa. Snow (1/63 & 3/83) was dropped for the last Test and was not included in the squad for the 1965–1966 tour of Australia.