Martyn Moxon

Martyn Moxon is the unluckiest of the eight men to make 99 in a Test but never a century. Against New Zealand at Auckland in 1987-88 Moxon swept three runs flush off the middle early in his innings, only for the umpire to give them as leg-byes. It was an error that proved costly when he fell to Ewen Chatfield on 99. In the next Test at Wellington he was set to right the wrong, but rain washed out the last two days with Moxon stuck on 81 not out. That was as close as Moxon got in ten appearances. Two failures against Australia at Trent Bridge in 1989 proved to be his last Test as he fell twice against Terry Alderman. In the first innings, England had fielded for two days as Australia made 600 at Trent Bridge in 1989 and was picked off by Alderman's late swing; in the second innings, demoted to no 5 as England followed on, he was unfortunate to receive a ball which kept low. England never chose him again. Although he never quite made the grade at Test level, he was a sound technician whose flying start to his county career (he scored centuries in his first two home matches) led Yorkshire fans to hail him as the new Geoff Boycott. He made more than 21,000 runs in 17 years of first-class cricket. His worth did not just extend to his runs. At a difficult time in Yorkshire's history, he was by nature a unifier and those qualities made him a valuable and generous captain. Upon retirement he became director of coaching at Yorkshire before moving on to coach Durham in 2001. But the pull of Yorkshire remained and he returned to the county as director of professional cricket in 2007

ESPNcricinfo staff - October 2013