John Warr
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| Full name | John James Warr | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | 16 July 1927 Ealing, Middlesex, England |
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| Batting style | Right-hand bat | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bowling style | Right-arm fast-medium | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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John James Warr (born 16 July 1927) is an English former cricketer. He played in two Test matches for England.[1]
His Test bowling average remains the worst of any retired English player, but Warr turned it into comic relief in his highly humorous after dinner speeches.[1]
Life and career
Born at Ealing, Middlesex, England,[1] Warr played for Middlesex as a right-arm fast-medium bowler, in 260 first-class matches between 1949 and 1960. He took 703 wickets for the county at an average of 20.75, with a personal best of 9 for 65. He captained the county in 1959 and 1960. After taking 87 wickets in the 1950 season, which ranked him 32nd on the list of wicket-takers in the first-class season. Warr was selected for the 1950–51 Ashes tour.[2] He played in two of the five Test matches, but only took one wicket, that of Australia's number seven, Ian Johnson, caught behind. In those two matches, he conceded 281 runs, and as of 2013[update] his bowling average remains the worst of any retired England Test player.[3] According to the 1952 Wisden Cricketer's Almanack Warr "tried hard and cheerfully, but he could not be regarded as Test class."[4]
John in fact in these two Tests took one for 281, which caused a few of us thereafter childishly to hum in his presence the Ancient and Modern Hymn number 281, 'Lead us Heavenly Father, lead us', with emphasis on the lines "Lone and Dreary, Faint and Weary, Through the Desert thou did'st go." In fact, of course, it was J.J. Warr's prime virtue was that he never seemed either faint or weary, on the field or off. Laughter was seldom far away when he was about... – E.W. Swanton[5]
However, he did take 100 first-class wickets twice – in 1956 and 1959, and played a total of 15 matches for the Gentlemen of England.
After retirement, he became a leading figure at the Jockey Club and was President of the MCC in 1987–88.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ First-class Bowling in England for 1950 (Ordered by Wickets), from CricketArchive, retrieved 6 September 2006
- ↑ Career Bowling for England in Test Matches (Ordered by Average) from CricketArchive, retrieved 6 September 2006
- ↑ Wisden – 1952 – M.C.C. team in Australia and New Zealand, 1950–51, from Cricinfo, retrieved 6 September 2006
- ↑ p82, Swanton, E.W., Swanton in Australia with MCC 1946–1975, Fontana/Collins, 1975
Further references
| Sporting positions | ||
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| Preceded by | Middlesex County Cricket Captain 1958–1960 |
Succeeded by Ian Bedford |
- EngvarB from August 2013
- Use dmy dates from August 2013
- Articles containing potentially dated statements from 2013
- 1927 births
- Living people
- England Test cricketers
- English cricketers
- Middlesex cricket captains
- Middlesex cricketers
- Cambridge University cricketers
- People educated at Ealing County Grammar School for Boys
- People from Ealing
- Presidents of the Marylebone Cricket Club
- Gentlemen cricketers
- Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers
- Gentlemen of England cricketers
