A few years ago I was helping to transcribe early Lancashire League minute books, when I “met” Sam Moss, known as the Demon Bowler, because, in 1898, as Bacup’s pro, he was involved in an incident which resulted in Lowerhouse being warned to control their supporters. I started looking into his life, thinking to write about it briefly for our History Books but it proved so big a task I eventually just wrote about the “unpleasant incident” with a brief biography of an amazing cricketer. Known as the fastest bowler in Lancashire but tainted with allegations of throwing, he was pro at Haslingden and Bacup, led Padiham to their first Ribblesdale League championship, played for Read, and founded a cricketing dynasty.
His life had been so full of drama I kept wishing someone would do it justice, so recently brought him to the attention of Giles Wilcock who, on his Old Ebor website, writes fascinating stories from cricket’s past. The result is this recently published, excellent three part biography : “Very fast but with a somewhat doubtful delivery” which is a great read anyway but particularly so for anyone interested in the history of league cricket.
Anne Cochrane