Stalwart Keith Moss celebrates 70 years in cricket administration

FORMER Yorkshire Cricket Club chairman Keith Moss is celebrating after clocking a landmark 70 years of unbroken service as a cricket administrator at club, league and county level.
Keith Moss.Keith Moss.
Keith Moss.

And the 85-year-old is hoping he can extend that figure still further as he continues to offer wise counsel as president of the Bradford Premier League and president emeritus at his club, Pudsey St Lawrence.

Moss, who was made an MBE in 2010 for his services to cricket, has received a number of accolades.

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He won the Bradford League’s coveted Sir Leonard Hutton Trophy and received a Yorkshire Cricket Board OSCA for his work.

Moss, who celebrated his milestone yesterday, said: “I have thoroughly enjoyed my involvement at all the different levels of the game. I guess there cannot be many people who reach 70 years in cricket administration, so it is something I feel proud of.”

Moss was just 15 when he was appointed secretary of Fulneck Cricket Club on January 6, 1950.

He was a young bowler who was studying for his school certificate at Pudsey Grammar School when he joined the committee of the Pudsey & District League club.

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Little did he know then that he was taking the first steps on a route that would see him serve as chairman of the Yorkshire County Cricket Club for five years.

Even when he was in the army from 1952 to 1954, he retained a deep involvement in cricket. After 25 years with Fulneck, Keith was persuaded to join Pudsey St Lawrence in 1976.

“I was doing a lot of work in the Middle East at the time,” he recalls. “During a visit to Nicosia, I found myself staying in the same hotel as St Lawrence stalwart, Roland Parker.

“He was very persuasive and urged me to join their committee in 1976. I accepted his invitation and the rest is history. I served as cricket chairman, club chairman and president, sometimes combining two of the roles at the same time.”

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It was perhaps no surprise that he should join St Lawrence. His grandfather was one of the trustees when the club purchased their Tofts Road ground in the 1930s, while his father played for the club.

The Moss family link is being continued by Keith’s son Anthony, who has succeeded his dad as club president.

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