Brief profile of Jeremy Snape by Matthew Reed

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Player:

JN Snape

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DateLine: 13th February 2006

 

Jeremy Snape was rewarded for his part in the finely tuned Gloucestershire limited-overs machine with an international debut in October 2001. In a time when the Harare Sports Club still played host to strong Zimbabwean teams, Snape won the man of the match award after bowling 10 tidy overs and luring both Flower brothers to a stumped end. In the third match he also showed his aptitude with the bat, chipping in with a useful 24 off 26 balls as England won. The 2001 English season had seen a marked improvement in his batting returns, after he had spent many a lonely day honing his technique in the indoor nets during the Bristol winter. The England camp moved to India in the final weeks of 2001, where his bowling fared slightly less well, despite playing on drier wickets, and Ashley Giles muscled him out of the team. Despite being one of the few internationals in Gloucestershire’s team of alpha-journeymen, he struggled to command a regular place in the team, especially in the Championship, and Snape left Bristol at the end of 2002. He appeared for England that winter technically unattached to a county, although his indeterminate status did not affect his performance as he again bottled up Zimbabwe in the Champions Trophy. Despite comfortably outbowling fellow spinner Ian Blackwell in that match, it was Snape’s last appearance for England, as the management preferred to stick with the burly Somerset man for his greater destructive power with the bat. On returning to England he joined Leicestershire, although in the last two seasons Snape has again been more of a limited-overs specialist, appearing in far more one-day matches than Championship games for The Foxes. However, Snape has been busy studying for an MA in Sports Psychology, and he has plans to become a full time professional in this field once his playing days are over. He still has something left in the tank as a player though, as he proved by being an ever present in Leicestershire’s two semi-final appearances in the 2003 and 2005 Twenty20 competitions, and in 2004 he struck the winning runs as the East Midlanders defeated Surrey in the final. Snape’s international days are now almost certainly behind him, although when it is considered how unconvincing many of England’s spinners have been in the last few years, and how some other players have been given long runs in the team despite poor personal and team performances, it is hard not to conclude that he could, and probably should, have played many more ODI’s for England than he actually did. After H.D Ackerman’s resignation, Snape was surprisingly appointed the Leicestershire captain for 2006, with the hope that his knowledge of psychology may allow him to squeeze a few extra per cent from every player in a transitional Foxes squad.

 

(February 2006)

(Article: Copyright © 2006 Matthew Reed)