Jonathan Moss- opportunity knocks

Jonathan Moss started his cricket career in Sydney and on the advice of a coach left to play in Melbourne with no guarantees.

He found his mojo in Victoria and forged a successful first class career from 2001 to 2007.

He played 52 Sheffield Shield games for Victoria scoring 2,796 runs at an average of 35.84. He hit 4 centuries in Shield cricket and 19 x 50s. In his first game as captain of Victoria he hit his highest first class score of 172 against Western Australia in 2003/04.

Moss took 91 wickets at an average of 30.48.

In one day cricket Moss played 62 games for Victoria scoring 1,479 runs and taking 43 wickets.

Moss also played first class cricket in England playing for Derbyshire County Cricket Club

On returning to Sydney Grade Cricket in 2007 Moss captained Sydney Cricket Club First Grade team.

Welcome Jonathan,

Where were you born and in what year?

Manly, Sydney 1975

Do you remember your first ever game of cricket? 

From memory, I was in year 3 and playing for Cromer Primary School. I can’t remember much from that game, but I do remember fielding the ball and both batsmen were stranded at one end, so I ran to the other stumps and from point-blank range, threw the ball as hard as I could at the stumps. Needless to say, it missed and went for 4 overthrows!

Where did you play your junior cricket?

Cromer primary school up to age 12 and then Shore School until completing year 12

Which clubs have you played for?

Lindfield District CC, Gordon DCC, Manly Warringah DCC, Sydney CC, Prahran DCC (Melbourne), Camberwell Magpies DCC (Melb), Berkshire County Cricket Club (minors counties in the UK) & Derbyshire County Cricket Club (County Cricket UK)

How old were you when you first played grade cricket?

17 in 4th grade for Gordon DCC.

What age did you make your first grade debut?

19

What prompted the move from NSW to Victoria?

I was asked by Prahran District CC to come and meet with them when I returned from the UK in October 2000. I never had any plans to move interstate, it never crossed my mind.

There were probably two key factors around the decision to move.

The first was that when I went to visit the club for a day and the president Ian Crawford (wonderful bloke) introduced me to the late Johnny Scholes, who was Victorian Bushrangers Coach at the time.

He didn’t know me from a bar of soap and promised if I moved and performed, he’d at the very least give me a chance to play in a Victorian 2nd XI game. He was always true to his word!

When I arrived back to Sydney I was unaware our head coach at Manly, Barry Knight had played club cricket with Scholesy at Carlton years earlier.

When I told Knighty about Scholesy offer at training, he essentially told me to pack my bags and make move. He told me the NSW selectors weren’t interested in me as Shane Lee, Dom Thornley & Shawn Bradstreet were the all-rounders in front of me.

The other key factor was the influence of Neil Maxwell. Maxi was a mentor and we enjoyed the challenge of playing against each other.

Although back in Sydney, Maxi had played for Victoria and was very supportive during our chats. He tried very hard to get me to play for Melbourne CC, but they had a decent young redhead all-rounder coming through the ranks and wanted to develop him further. Turned out to be Andrew McDonald, now assistant to Justin Langer with the Aussie Cricket team. A great mate and we ended up playing a lot for the Vics together.

John Scholes

What was your highest score in Sydney First Grade?

140 odd against St George at Killara Oval

What was your highest score in First Class Cricket?

Now that I’ll never forget as it was my first game as Captain of Victoria – 172* at the WACA.

Can you remember your best bowling figures in Sydney First Grade?

Yes – 8 for 27 v North Sydney at Killara Oval playing for Gordon.

Can you remember your best bowling figures in First Class cricket?

4 for 35

Who was the fastest bowler you ever faced?

That’s a tough one, as there were a few around that era. Either Shaun Tate, Shoaib Akhtar or Brett Lee.

Who were the best spinners you played against?

Shane Warne & Muttiah Muralitharan 

Who were the top 3 bowlers you played against?

Dizzy Gillespie – just never gave you an inch and asked questions of your technique all day.

Michael Kasprowicz – at the Gabba he was relentless and had the ability to swing both ways

Andy Caddick – Superb bowler. Steep bounce and great shape.

Michael Kasprowicz

Who was the top 3 batsman you found the most difficult to bowl to? 

Michael Hussey – Awesome footwork, exceptional technique and could pull shots from anywhere.

Darren Lehmann – Every time you thought you had him in front, no chance. His footwork, his hands and had wrists were fantastic.

Kevin Pietersen was just another level.

What’s been your most memorable moment in cricket?

Such a tough question to answer, but if I had to pick one it was more around the season 2003/04 and we won the Pura Cup (Sheffield Shield). This wasn’t any ordinary year winning the competition as it was the season in which close mate, mentor and our coach David Hookes was sadly killed after a match against South Australia.

As a senior member, Hookesy had great faith in me to give me the captaincy on some occasions, and to remember the faces of the players, our team went from strength to strength to go undefeated. It was an incredible experience and feeling when we won the final against Queensland at the MCG.

I will never forget the emotion in the rooms that day and looking around the team and all the family members.

David Hookes

Who’s been the biggest influence in your cricket career?

Without a doubt my father, David. My mother and two brothers as well.

Darren Berry was also a significant influence.

Darren Berry appeals for a catch behind the wicket

Who was the funniest cricketing team mate?

Graeme Welch from Derbyshire CCC – always had a great laugh with him!

Who was the most annoying team mate?

I remember Matty Phelps used to change his gloves when playing for Manly almost every 5 overs

Who is your favourite all-time cricketer?

Mark Waugh – I especially loved watching him bat.

What was the best win you were involved in?

I’d like to mention two if I could.

The first one because it carried a lot of emotion and sadness. It was in Israel at the 1997 Maccabiah Games representing Australia. My old Victorian teammate, Michael Klinger was our young superstar and the team flag bearer. It was my first real experience of a truly global event, with over 5,000 athletes performing in many different sports. For those that remember, this was a significant event for Australia as when we were walking into the stadium for the opening ceremony (50,000 inside the stadium waiting for the team to enter) the bridge the athletes were walking over to cross the muddy river collapsed. The majority of the Australian team was on the bridge at the time, including our cricket team. Sadly, 5 members of the Australian team didn’t survive the fall and it was a tough experience. 

We ended up winning the gold medal against South Africa which was a great achievement for a group of young men who’d lost 5 members of the Australian Jewish community.

The second one was a Shield game, Victoria against New South Wales at the Newcastle Sports Ground 2003/04 season. It was Mark and Steve Waugh’s last first-class game. We had to score 450 on the final day to win the game, David Hussey got a double hundred, and I got 76 and we won by 3 wickets. Hookesy had got us in the rooms at the end of day 3 and told us to treat the next day as two 50 over games. Sadly, it turned out to be Hookesy’s last game as coach before his passing.

It was an amazing win and the celebration that night was even better I think! Our head of cricket, Shaun Graf was so pleased, he finally got the old corporate card out and treated the whole team and support staff to a seafood feast! 

If you’re in the middle seat of the middle row of Qantas QF1flight to London which teammates would you choose to on your left and right?

Darren Berry – one of the best sledgers and a great storyteller

Colin ‘funky’ Miller – one of the absolute greats! Not sure I’d be walking off the flight though?!

Did you have any cricketing superstitions?

Only one – used to always touch my cap, helmet or head before each ball I faced or bowled.

Most favourite ground to play at?

The WACA

What’s the best advice you ever received?

From my mother – “Darling Jonathan, you can’t get caught out if you hit the ball along the ground!”

Of course in a very sarcastic voice!

Are you still involved in Cricket and if so, in what capacity?

Nothing formal. I would like to get more involved in a mentoring capacity, especially having transitioned into the corporate world and how players can use their brand to better serve them for when they retire.

What advice would you offer a young 13 year old, who has the ambition of playing test cricket?

Enjoy the game, enjoy training hard and have fun! Try to use every poor performance as a way of becoming better, because you’ll always have more failures than successes in cricket, it’s the nature of this great game. When you think you’ve trained hard and done enough, do some more.

What are your hobbies?

I love my golf and surfing and recently got a decent bike from my wife for Christmas, so enjoying that also.

What is your occupation?

I’m currently Head of Portfolio Solutions for AXAXL – owned by AXA, a large general insurance company.

Are there any lessons from your time in cricket that you take into work or life in general?

All the time, especially in team environments and when discipline and work ethic is so important. All those years, especially playing professionally, helps you understand how to manage in many different situations.

When you play cricket, both individually and as a team, we think so strategically without even knowing it, and this certainly provided some great skills coming into the real world for me.

Looking back, I didn’t let cricket define me, and I would say, this helped my transition.

In cricket, you learn to deal with failures all the time, so it made me realise not to get too high with the highs and in turn, not too low in the low times

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