Maurice Read

Maurice Read
Maurice Read
Personal information
Born(1859-02-09)9 February 1859
Thames Ditton, Surrey, England
Died17 February 1929(1929-02-17) (aged 70)
Winchester, Hampshire, England
BattingRight-handed
BowlingRight-arm fast-medium
International information
National side
Test debut (cap 36)28 August 1882 v Australia
Last Test19 July 1893 v Australia
Career statistics
Competition Test First-class
Matches 17 380
Runs scored 461 14,008
Batting average 17.07 24.66
100s/50s 0/2 11/70
Top score 57 186*
Balls bowled 3,911
Wickets 73
Bowling average 24.75
5 wickets in innings 1
10 wickets in match 0
Best bowling 6/41
Catches/stumpings 8/– 214/–
Source: CricketArchive, 10 May 2023

John Maurice Read (9 February 1859 – 17 February 1929) 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.