John Snow

John Snow, the Worcestershire-born seamer, was a deceptive quick bowler. He had that uncanny ability to generate speed through his last few strides of his run-up. Snow's disconcerting bounce troubled most of the batsmen of that time. However, he had his fair share of problems with quite a few captains. It is also interesting to note that he became popular as a poet. A fast bowler, who was good at poetry!

Snow made his First-Class debut for Sussex in 1961. During those days, he bowled medium-pace. At that time, there was this infamous incident of how his Sussex captain, Ted Dexter, had instructed him to pitch it up after Colin Milburn had hooked him to the boundary. Snow though, didn't oblige as he bowled a rip-snorter, the next delivery, and believe-it-or-not, Milburn could only fend it to Dexter at leg-slip. Later, Snow is believed to have said to Dexter, “pitch it up like that you mean?”

Despite their differences, it was Dexter who recommended Snow to be picked for England. He got a chance against New Zealand at Lord's in 1965. He also played a Test match against South Africa at Trent Bridge that year. However, Graeme Pollock smashed him to smithereens and Snow soon found himself in the wilderness.

Snow then went back to the drawing board, worked hard on his bowling in South Africa and from a medium-pacer, turned himself into a genuine quick bowler. His problems with his captains though continued. As Sussex didn't have one of their bowlers in a County game, their captain Pataudi (Jnr), instructed him to take up the mantle and bowl more overs. Snow though refused.

In the series against West Indies in 1965-66, Snow finally showed that he was Test class. One of his better performances in that series came at The Oval when he smashed a fifty and took crucial wickets in the second innings, and one of his victims was none other than Garry Sobers. This show turned the career of Snow around and for the next seven years, no one questioned his place in the side on the basis of lack of form.

For the next few years, he was down with injuries on occasions, but when he was fit and raring to go, Snow led the English attack wonderfully well. He was in prime form in the West indies in 1967-68 when he snared 27 wickets. Unfortunately, captains continued to have problems with his behaviour. He was even dropped for a Test in Lahore in Pakistan. He was dropped for one more Test against New Zealand in 1969, reportedly for disciplinary reasons.

Snow was at his peak in the Ashes series in 1970-71, when he got the ball to climb disconcertingly from a back of a length and ended up with 31 wickets to his name. On the back of Snow's brilliance, England won the series. However, umpires were critical of his intimidatory bowling against the lower-order batsmen. Lou Rowan, one of the umpires, in that series wasn't impressed at all and warned him on numerous occasions. It has to be said though, there was a belief that Snow was mainly hitting back of a length and not digging it half way down the track in that series.

There was one more controversy waiting to happen in Snow's career. At Lord's, he had a collision with India's legendary opener, Sunil Gavaskar. No wonder, he was dropped for the following Test. Snow perhaps showed his anger of being dropped by hurling bouncers at The Oval and one of his bouncers was targeted at Gavaskar and he fell down. In the second innings, Snow went on to snare the opener's wicket.

Even though, Snow had a fine time in the Ashes at home in 1972 and looked in good form in the 1975 World Cup, it felt as if, he was slowly fading away form the scene. He played his last series against West Indies in 1976 and subsequently, started playing in the Packer World Series. In his autobiography, 'Cricket Rebel' he then criticised MCC and Sussex officials.

By Bharath Ramaraj