Ray Price (cricketer)

Raymond William Price (born 12 June, 1976) is a former international Zimbabwean cricketer. He bowls left-arm orthodox spin. He is the nephew of the renowned Zimbabwean golfer Nick Price.

Price was born two months prematurely and contracted meningitis when he was a few months old. He was given only a one in four chance of survival, but he survived it . However, although it was not realised for some time, he was left totally deaf by the disease. When he was four, he had an operation to regain his hearing. The operation was successful, but left him with terrible coordination difficulties. He was consequently some way behind his age group when he went to school.

Price first played cricket with friends in his back garden. When he was at primary school he was a pace bowler, but took up spin at Watershed College, a boarding school near Marondera. He gradually got better and better at cricket, ending up as a key figure for the school team.

He had attracted the attention of the Mashonaland County Districts cricket side, and he made his first-class debut in 1995/6, although only as an amateur. He was a trained installer of refrigeration and air conditioning units during this period of his career.

Price began to impress the Zimbabwe selectors and, when an injury and form crisis robbed Zimbabwe of the first-choice spinner Paul Strang, Adam Huckle and Andy Whittall, they selected him for the third Test of the series against Sri Lanka in 1999/2000.

He became a marginal figure in the squad, sometimes he played and sometimes he did not, however in 2001/02 he began to put in some good performances for the national side, including 5–181, his first Test five wicket haul, against South Africa at Bulawayo and 4–116 against Pakistan at the same ground.