Maurice Read
English cricketer
Died when: 70 years 8 days (840 months)Star Sign: Aquarius
John Maurice Read (9 February 1859 – 17 February 1929 in Winchester, Hampshire) was an English professional cricketer.Harry Altham wrote of him in A History of Cricket, "Maurice Read had been recognised as a dashing player up to Test match form, to say nothing of being a wonderful fielder in the country." A hard-hitting and, according to Lord Hawke, "magnificent batsman who never had pretensions to be even a moderate change bowler", Read did little bowling except in 1883, when he claimed 27 first-class wickets including his career best of 6–41 against Kent.
Born in 1859 in Thames Ditton, Surrey, Read joined the Thames Ditton Cricket Club in 1879, made his first-class debut for Surrey in 1880, and played regularly for his county for fifteen years.
His most productive year was 1886, when he scored 1,364 runs at an average of 34.97, including two centuries and seven fifties.He was also extremely productive in the first half of 1889, and was a Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1890, but his season was affected later in the year by a bad finger injury.
