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description= Cricket From the Dim and Distant Past;
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ed for burslem in 1901 where he was immediately successful for example in his first game he took nine wickets for six runs then against bignall end he took nine wickets all bowled for one run in 2 5 overs this performance was even mentioned in cricket but that southern publication was unaware of all the controversy surrounding moss we believe he was formerly the bacup professional fast bowler despite all the stormy coverage of moss in lancashire newspapers little of the affair was reported in other parts of the country a writer in the sports telegraph noted that this early success renewed questions over moss s action and provided another possible explanation for the continued discussion he is too good for the class of cricket he has joined and being a fast bowler that is sufficient to convince his opponents that he is unfair but unlike in lancashire the matter was not allowed to fester against staffordshire club and ground at stoke in may moss was no balled five times by umpire dean for throwing he still took six for 38 this reignited the discussions over his action and the umpire was singled out for some abuse some even suggested that it had been pre arranged dean offered his resignation to the league but it was refused dean then no balled moss seven times three in the first over against leek at the end of july moss played one match for staffordshire a non first class game against the touring south africans officiated by the occasional test umpire thomas mycroft who had no issue with moss s bowling action but this was a slightly different version of moss his pace seemed off at times and he was occasionally wayward he took three for 64 in the first innings but bowled just two overs in the long south african second innings owing to a leg injury was his lack of effectiveness because he was bowling differently was it an injury or was he not quite as devastating against a higher standard of opposition if it cannot have been pleasant for the man himself the publicity around moss s bowling benefitted both burslem and other clubs in the league the undeniable success of his bowling and its sheer pace also proved attractive as a result attendances increased considerably when players from across the league turned out for his benefit match in july 1901 the staffordshire sentinel noted the controversy around his action but said the presence of these players demonstrated the fact that whatever the merits of moss s bowling the feeling displayed towards him by the members of other teams are of a perfectly friendly and sportsmanlike character in mid 1901 the todmorden and district news carried another story it is rumoured that the todmorden committee have the chance of engaging sam moss the demon bowler for next season my only hope is that they will not avail themselves of it as i am by no means convinced of the fairness of his delivery and i am afraid a great risk would be incurred by any club which again ventured to bring moss into lancashire league cricket and there was an interesting post script at the meeting of the lancashire league committee in early july it was proposed by church and seconded by ramsbottom that all the clubs should pledge themselves not to engage moss at any time this was passed at the next meeting but the decision to blacklist moss was not recorded in any official minutes instead it was quietly noted in the back of the minute book and never formally published as usual in these circumstance no evidence survives about how moss handled these setbacks nor of how he felt as questions continued to be asked about the fairness of his bowling perhaps it never bothered him and he saw cricket as just a job and perhaps not even that because by the time of the 1901 census when moss still lived in bacup he still did not list himself as a professional cricketer by that stage he was working on his own account as a publican the proprietor of the bull s head hotel however the family relocated to staffordshire subsequently and no trace survives of what other work moss might have been carrying out yet for all his success at burslem his reputation at the top of professional cricket was badly affected although he was still only 32 and could have enjoyed years more at that level as a fast bowler the rest of his career took a downward trajectory he gently sank down the unofficial ladder of professional cricket and tragedy was just around the corner share this share on reddit opens in new window reddit print opens in new window print share on facebook opens in new window facebook share on pinterest opens in new window pinterest email a link to a friend opens in new window email share on whatsapp opens in new window whatsapp share on linkedin opens in new window linkedin share on threads opens in new window threads share on x opens in new window x share on bluesky opens in new window bluesky like loading leave a comment very fast but with a somewhat doubtful delivery the arrival of sam moss 8 december 2025 13 january 2026 old ebor 1890s cricket bacup cricket club cricket glamorgan haslingden lancashire lancashire league manchester cricket club sam moss throwing wales arthur mold bacup bury cricket club haslingden jack crossland lancashire lancashire league manchester cricket club manchester zingari plymouth works cricket club sam moss samuel moss st georges cricket club throwing sam moss in 1908 image courtesy of j andrews via ancestry there is a moment familiar to every cricket follower the realisation that the fast bowler is being brought on the sudden hush the silent thrill the tension in the batters the anticipation and when it is the bowler s day when the rhythm is right the electricity in the air as the ball is delivered at speeds with which few batters can cope but what if the fastest bowler in the world was a man playing professional league cricket earning a quiet living in wales the lancashire league or north staffordshire what if even wisden accepted that this man had been the fastest immediately the questions begin to pile up why was this demon bowler not a household name why was he not playing county or test cricket yet this would only begin to scratch the surface of the remarkable tale of sam moss a story of pace personal travails and the strange paranoia that gripped english cricket around the turn of the twentieth century the origins of this demon are inevitably misty like many working class professional cricketers from the nineteenth century he was ignored except on the field of play nor was he ever famous enough nationally to be featured in a publication such as cricket or wisden that might have outlined his early life instead there are just fragments that can be pieced together samuel moss was born in salford early in 1869 he was the son of a shoe maker called hugh moss and emma schofield a london born dressmaker moss s parents were married around six months before his birth and he was the first of their eight children however emma already had one son the identity of the father is unknown but hugh had no objection to listing him as his own the 1871 census records moss living with his parents in salford but there was one hint of an early tragedy in the family his mother s sister lydia schofield also lived in the household she seems to have moved north from london with her sister because the 1861 census records both living with a relative in bolton she was also a witness at the wedding of hugh and emma the sisters must have been close because emma s first daughter born in 1870 was named lydia the following year lydia schofield married a man called thomas ritson but less than a year later she was dead it is possible to make too much of such matters early deaths were simply part of victorian life and moss might have been too young for the bereavement to have made an impression but it was the first of many premature losses endured by moss and his family over the next fifty years chester road in manchester where moss and his family lived in 1881 by the time of the 1881 census the family now numbering seven children including emma s first son had moved to hulme otherwise we know very little about the childhood or upbringing of moss the only other clues come from an interview he gave at the height of his fame in 1898 moss told the lancashire daily post that he had begun playing cricket at the age of fourteen batting and keeping wicket for the manchester zingari club he soon became a bowler and in 1888 played for a representative manchester association against liverpool and district association taking five for three in 1889 he had a trial with little lever and took three for 20 against a lancashire eleven it is uncertain if he held any professional roles in this period but the matter becomes clearer in 1890 when he signed a contract to play for plymouth works sometimes known as hills plymouth a merthyr tydfil timber firm with their own cricket team and moved to wales it is possible that he applied for a cricketing position some professionals took roles far from home early in their career or had been head hunted for his performances in lancashire certainly one welsh newspaper was under the mistaken impression in 1891 that moss had played for a leading team in lancashire he was additionally employed as a clerk by plymouth works a common side occupation for professional cricketers but he was certainly paid primarily to play cricket there were also developments in moss s personal life around this time on 23 august 1890 he married minnie clark the daughter of a professor of music in hulme they probably met through moss s older brother or half brother who had married minnie s sister the previous year moss listed himself as a clerk on the marriage register clearly he did not yet regard himself as a professional cricketer in may 1891 their first child rose emma victoria moss was born in hulme almost nine months to the day after their wedding minnie clark image courtesy of sylvia spencer but the birth of their first daughter caused some disruption for the newly married couple the 1891 census records moss boarding with a family of three sisters in merthyr tydfil minnie was not with him she still lived with her family presumably as she was heavily pregnant and worked as a weaver in stretford by 1892 minnie had joined moss in merthyr tydfil because late that year their second child samuel ernest moss was born there clearly moss saw his short term future in wales moss spent at least two seasons at plymouth works cricket club although the dates are surprisingly murky the piece accompanying his interview with the lancashire daily post suggested he first played in 1890 and had left the club by 1892 but contemporary newspaper coverage although sparse suggests that moss played in 1891 and 1892 and he still lived in wales in 1892 when his son was born there is less doubt over his effectiveness moss was far too fast a bowler for most of the opposition he faced for example in 1891 when he took six for 24 against taff vale he was already being described as a great deal faster than the fastest of glamorganshire bowlers in the south wales daily news it said that he was very straight and when he likes can break well given the shockwaves generated by his pace he played a match for glamorgan not a first class county at the time in 1892 against a colts xxi in the first innings he took eleven wickets for eight runs and another four wickets in the second innings but the first of many oddities about moss s career was this was his only match for glamorgan perhaps his professional status was an issue or his wages were too high or maybe he was chosen just to test out the younger players but there is another possible explanation already there might have been whispers about his bowling action there were suspicions that he was throwing the ball at the time throwing was a sensitive subject there had been enormous controversy in the 1880s over the bowling actions of several lancashire professional bowlers the most notorious of whom was the fast bowler jack crossland matters settled down until the early 1890s when questions were raised over the legitimacy of the bowling of among others tom richardson and charles kortright part of the problem was that the nature of a throw in cricket was somewhat nebulous some older cricket followers argued that using the wrist to add pace to the ball something that became accepted as perfectly legitimate constituted a throw this meant that throwing was very much in the eye of the beholder who was rarely impartial by mid 1890s there were strong suspicions even articulated in the 1895 edition of wisden about several leading bowlers including the amateur c b fry and the lancashire fast bowler arthur mold as ever in such cases it meant that everyone was closely watching bowling arms for even a hint of straightening and such hyper vigilance was replicated at lower levels from what happened later it is not impossible that glamorgan overlooked moss because there were doubts at a sensitive time about whether he was bowling fairly or perhaps it was just a coincidence moss around 1894 in any case moss s success in wales brought him to the attention of lancashire he gave his version of the story to the lancashire daily post in 1898 in 1892 he was engaged on the old trafford groundstaff as a player umpire and scorer and took 95 wickets at 11 68 assuming this to be true moss must have been very busy that summer as he was still playing for plymouth works he had less success with lancashire than he had enjoyed in wales cricketarchive records how in 1893 he played two games for the second eleven he was not a great success he was wicketless in the first match and although he took six wickets in the second he hardly set the world alight and there were already a few questioning looks professionals on the lancashire groundstaff were often farmed out to local clubs particularly manchester cricket club with which the county team was closely involved moss played for manchester in 1893 and 1894 but one report in the wigan observer during may 1893 described him as a new acquisition at old trafford who bowls very fast but with a somewhat doubtful delivery connected to this or not he was listed as a member of the manchester club at the beginning of the 1894 season but apparently did not appear in any of the matches at least according to the end of season averages listed in the manchester guardian inevitably rumours grew in later years as the issue of moss s bowling action arose once again a story soon emerged that he was no balled for throwing while playing for lancashire second eleven against surrey second eleven moss dismissed the idea as a fable in his 1898 interview yet the idea persists the glamorgan cricket archives include the tale in a profile of moss but there is no contemporary report of this phantom no balling while there were certainly doubts about the legitimacy of his bowling action no umpire seems to have called him for throwing at the...
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