Snow was born in Worcestershire, and educated at Christ's Hospital. He began his career as a batsman, but later developed as a bowler. He first played first-class cricket in 1961 and made his test debut in 1965. The highlight of his test career was the Ashes series of 1970-71, when he did more than any other member of Ray Illingworth's team to achieve victory in Australia.
Although a quiet man off-field with a deep interest in poetry, he was best known for his formidable and aggressive fast bowling, which got him into several scrapes. In 1971 at Lords, he "barged" Indian batsman Sunil Gavaskar in an attempt at a run-out, the incident getting him temporarily dropped from the England side. Commenting on the incident thirty years later, Gavaskar said, "In 1971, during a Test match, I collided with England fast bowler John Snow and lost my bat. Snow picked it up and handed it to me. But at the time, many papers wrote that Snow had flung the bat at me. It all depends on your point of view, or what you are trying to portray..."
In 49 tests over 11 years, Snow took 202 wickets at an average of 22.66. His top test score as a batsman was 71. He was selected as one of Wisden's cricketers of the year in 1973 and retired from all forms of the game in 1980.
Autobiography