One of White Coppice’s greatest ever players, Tony Moore, is coming out of retirement to play against the MCC on Sunday.
The stylish wicketkeeper batsman scored 7,869 runs in 243 Palace Shield games between 2004-2022, including four hundreds and 65 fifties.
He said he couldn’t turn down the chance to play in the showpiece game against the world’s oldest active cricket club, which will form one of the centrepieces of CoppiceFest.
In the 2017 season, when a shortage of players meant Coppice regularly failed to put out a full team, Moore scored a staggering 794 runs at an average of 66 with a top score of 139.
Moore said: “It’s amazing to see the progress that the club has made in recent years and the MCC game will be a real celebration in White Coppice’s 150th anniversary year.
“I first joined Coppice when I was about 21 and I played two or three seasons in the Chorley League before we went into the Palace Shield.
“In 2017 I really thought the club was going to go under but we refused to die.”
In one game against New Longton in 2017, Coppice took to the field with just seven players – the lowest needed to constitute a match.
Five of those players are still at Coppice – Jeff Smith, Martin Cuerden, Chris Maguire, Paul Dobson and Jim Lawrenson – and they’ll be involved in the MCC match.
Smith, Cuerden and Maguire will be in the White Coppice starting XI while Dobson and Lawrenson will be performing 12th man duties.
The MCC XI will be captained by former White Coppice player Peter Deakin, whose father Reg died in 2024 at the age of 92 after a 50-year association with White Coppice and the cricket club.
The all-day game starts at 11.30am and the MCC team is packed with experience.
MCC team
- Paddy Coughlin
- Peter Deakin (captain)
- Toby Drummond
- Doug Green
- Nick Guest
- Jimmy Lee
- Dave Snellgrove
- Tom Leslie
- Rex Purnell
- Adam Syddall
- Matt Taylor
White Coppice team
- Tony Moore
- Chris Maguire
- Ryan Adderley
- Joe Seager
- Ant Dark
- Ibby Akram
- Uzzy Akram
- Rich Bush
- Jeff Smith
- Russ Millhouse
- Martin Cuerden
- 12th man. Paul Dobson / Jim Lawrenson