Reginald Moss (cricketer)

Reginald Heber Moss (24 February 1868 - 19 March 1956) was an English cricketer: a right-handed batsman and a right-arm bowler of both fast and medium pace. He holds the distinction of being the oldest cricketer to appear in the County Championship.

Born in Huyton, Liverpool, Moss played most of his first-class cricket for Oxford University, appearing 13 times between 1887 and 1890; he won a blue in 1889. His first match in 1887 was against Lancashire, for whom he had played a handful of minor games before going up to Oxford, while his best bowling performance came in his final university game, when he took 4-9 against Sussex.

His interest in athletics prevented Moss from appearing more often; as an example, he missed the 1889 Varsity Match but came third against Cambridge in the shot put. After leaving Oxford, Moss played two matches in the 1893 season: an ineffective performance against Lancashire for MCC at Lord's (he scored 3 and 4 and did not bowl or take a catch), and an only marginally more productive appearance for Liverpool and District against the touring Australians, in which he took 0-23 and made 13 in an innings defeat.

Moss was to make only one further appearance, for Worcestershire, but extraordinarily this came in the 1925 County Championship, nearly 32 years after his previous first-class game when Moss was 57. Batting at number 11, he made 2 and 0 and was "an easy victim" according to the The Times [http://content-usa.cricinfo.com/columns/content/current/story/304620.html] but he fared better in the field, picking up the wicket of Gloucestershire opener Michael Green and holding two catches.

He died at the age of 88 in Bridport, Dorset.

External links

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* [http://www.cricketarchive.co.uk/Archive/Players/31/31598/31598.html Statistical summary] from CricketArchive