The year 1921 witnessed the deaths of four players who all wore the White Rose and Paul Dyson looks back at their careers.
The first former Yorkshire cricketer to pass away in 1921 is one who played for the county over a period of 12 seasons but who was a regular in the side for only four of these. Bobby Moorhouse passed away on January 7th at Taylor Hill, Huddersfield; he never strayed far from his roots having been born at Berry Brow, Huddersfield in September 1866. He initially played for Armitage Bridge and made his debut for the county at the age of 21. A middle-order batsman who also bowled off-spin, he was a brilliant fielder at cover point – regarded as one of the best of the era.
As a batsman he was plucky; despite being short in stature he stood firm against the faster bowlers and received many bruises when batting on unreliable surfaces. He did not have a sound technique but because of his bravery he sometimes scored runs when others found them hard to come by. An example of this was when he made 39 and 38 not out against Surrey, its team including the fearsome Tom Richardson, on a tricky pitch at Bramall Lane. Yorkshire scored 98 and 91 and won by 58 runs!