John Sidney Ernest Price, Middlesex’s most successful fast bowler of the 1960’s came late to the first class game. He had a handful of matches for the county in 1961 when he was 23, but it wasn’t until two years later that he burst upon the county scene at the advanced age of 25.

It was clear from the start that, when it came to bowling actions, here was something well out of the ordinary. These days he’d probably have had his action remodelled into mediocrity by the coaches. However Jack, who had been playing his cricket for Wembley CC, had clearly been allowed to develop his own unique style of bowling without much interference.

It is hard to convey J.S.E. Price’s bowling style in words. Firstly his run was very upright and quite stiff-looking. One suspects that this was the result of a fear of back injuries that plagued him throughout his career. But the main curiosity was the angle of his approach to the wicket. His run was exceptionally long, but for the first few yards he would appear to be heading in quite the wrong direction.

My memory is probably faulty, but I only ever recall him bowling from the Pavilion End at Lord’s. As his stock ball was the one that went away from the batsman, it would have seemed more logical to operate from the Nursery End and use the slope, however he could also bring one back in to the right hander, so perhaps that would explain it.

Anyway, instead of heading towards the Umpire as logic would dictate, he would begin by trotting off in the general direction of the Tavern. Then, without warning, he would suddenly, with a little skip, veer sharp left towards the wicket. I think there was another nervous little skip somewhere along the home straight, before he would at last get into his rhythm, reach the crease and deliver the ball in a chaotic explosion of flailing limbs.

It was without doubt the oddest run I have ever seen in the professional game, and I was always amused by the fact that the two skips would leave deep indentations in the grass, and these could be still be seen days or weeks later in several different places as the wicket moved across the square with each passing game.

After his first full season in the county game, in which he took 83 wickets at an average of 22, he was called up for the winter tour to India (along with Middlesex colleagues Fred Titmus and Peter Parfitt) where he played in four of the tests, taking 14 wickets. Batting incidentally was not Jack’s strongest suit. Though a right arm bowler, he batted left-handed. Nevertheless in the second test at Bombay he scored 32, batting for 144 minutes in an all-Middlesex partnership of 68 with Titmus.

 This turned out to be the highest score he ever achieved in tests by quite a wide margin. In the third test at Calcutta he took 5-73. This was also the high water mark of his England bowling career: He never again took more than three wickets in a test match innings.

(To be continued)