John Warr

John James Warr (16 July 1927 – 9 May 2016) was an English cricketer. A successful county player for Middlesex County Cricket Club, he took part in two Test matches for England. Warr was known for his sense of humour and made many humorous after-dinner speeches. Playing for both Middlesex and the University of Cambridge, he took 87 wickets in the 1950 season which ranked him 32nd on the list of wicket-takers in the first-class season.

While still studying at Cambridge, Warr was selected for the 1950–51 tour of Australia. He played in two of the five Test matches, with the worst debut bowling performance in Test cricket, taking no wickets but conceding 142 runs, a record which stood until 2009 when Australian Bryce McGain went wicketless while conceding 149 runs against South Africa. He went on to take just one wicket, that of Australia's number seven, Ian Johnson, caught behind. In those two matches, he conceded 281 runs, the worst bowling figures of any Test cricketer in history until the record was surpassed in 1985 by Sri Lanka's Roger Wijesuriya. his bowling average remains the worst of any retired England Test player; only Ravi Bopara has a worse average. According to the 1952 Wisden Cricketers' Almanack Warr "tried hard and cheerfully, but he could not be regarded as Test class."

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 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

Warr captained Middlesex between 1958 and 1960. He took 100 first-class wickets twice – in 1956 and 1959. Warr also played fifteen matches for the Gentlemen of England, three times for E. W. Swanton's XI in the West Indies in 1955–56, and three times for the Duke of Norfolk's XI in Jamaica in 1956–57.

Personal life Born in Ealing, Middlesex, England, Warr was the youngest of three children. He became president of the Berkshire County Cricket Club in 1990.