Stephen Moore

Full Name	Stephen Moore
Nickname	Rodge
DoB	4th November 1980
Height	6' 1
Bats/Bowls	Right hand/Right-arm Medium
Shirt Number	6
Lancashire	Debut 2010. Cap 2011. Previous Team: Worcestershire 2003-09
Tests	0
ODI	0

Profile

STEPHEN Moore may have gone into the 2011 season with some doubts about his fitness after badly dislocating his shoulder midway through 2010, but the former Worcestershire opener needn't have worried.

The South African-born right-hander, who played for the England Lions shortly before arriving at Old Trafford in late 2009, had a summer to remember.

On the field he scored his first two County Championship hundreds in a Lancashire shirt and amassed an impressive total of 1,835 runs across all three competitions. He was the Club's leading run-scorer in the Friends Life t20 competition.

Off the field he became a father for the first time, leaving the match against Worcestershire at New Road to be at the birth of his daughter.

His stunning 2011 came on the back of a patchy first campaign with the Red Rose county, in which he scored a couple of one-day centuries against Surrey and his former county and returned a couple of valuable contributions in the Twenty20 arena.

But he struggled to assert himself in the Championship, scoring only 426 runs from nine matches.

His season was curtailed when he dislocated a shoulder in a fielding accident during the Twenty20 quarter-final against Essex at Chelmsford in late July. It prompted him to worry about the strength of his throw in the lead up to 2011.

In his second season with the county, he topped 1,000 first-class runs in a campaign for the fourth time in his career and posted 124 not out to secure a win against Nottinghamshire at Trent Bridge before an unbeaten 169 in the penultimate match of the summer against Hampshire at Liverpool.

It was a knock that was overshadowed by Simon Kerrigan's famous nine-wicket display, although it was a measure of the man that he was not at all bothered by that. "Keggsy's display was absolutely world-class," he said. "He deserved to take all the plaudits."

A shocked Moore was presented with his county cap by Chairman Michael Cairns at the 2011 Player of the Year dinner.

A versatile batsman, Moore spent a prolific seven-season spell with Worcestershire having played second-team cricket at New Road and at Sussex after moving to England with his English parents at the age of 18.

Like 2011, the Exeter University graduate (Master of Engineering) will look back on 2009 in particular with a great deal of satisfaction. He scored a superb 120 against the touring Australians for the Lions at New Road, putting the likes of Brett Lee and Mitchell Johnson to the sword.

He also scored a Championship ton against Lancashire for Worcestershire at Old Trafford in front of the watching Peter Moores. Ironically, he did not score another hundred until the innings for Lancashire at Trent Bridge.

Moore, who has toured New Zealand with the Lions, was subsequently named in the England Performance Programme squad in the winter of 2009/10.

He has since formed an impressive alliance at the top of the order in Championship cricket with Paul Horton - the pair notched three century partnerships in the last three innings of 2011 - and with Tom Smith in both forms of limited overs cricket.

Despite his impressive performances, you just get the feeling that there is still a whole lot more to come from Moore, who is also a very keen tennis player, saxophonist and guitarist.

Graham Hardcastle
(c) Lancashire CCC Ltd

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