Alex Moir

Alexander McKenzie Moir (17 July 1919 – 17 June 2000) was a New Zealand cricketer. He played 17 Test matches for New Zealand in the 1950s as a leg-spinner and lower-order batsman.

Early life Moir served in Europe with New Zealand forces in World War II as a driver. At the end of the war he played a few matches for the New Zealand Services cricket team in England.

Cricket career In his early career, Moir was mostly a batsman. When his Dunedin club, Grange, won the Otago Cricket Association competition in 1948–49, he was their leading batsman, with 536 runs at an average of 48.72, and did little bowling. The Otago Daily Times said he was "an attractive batsman and if he would temper his aggression with more discretion he would be unquestionably a candidate for a place in the Otago Plunket Shield team." But after watching the Australian leg-spinner Bill O'Reilly bowl, Moir decided to try his hand at leg-spin, and it was primarily as a spinner that he won his spot in the Otago team in 1949–50, when he made his first-class debut at the age of 30.

Like O'Reilly, Moir bowled quicker than most leg-spinners. His figures remained the best by a New Zealander on Test debut until Colin de Grandhomme took 6 for 41 in November 2016. The next time England toured, in 1954–55, Moir took 5 for 62 in England's first innings in the Second Test, only for England then to dismiss New Zealand for the lowest Test score ever, 26.

Moir was not selected for New Zealand's tour of South Africa in 1953–54, the selectors preferring younger, more athletic players. While the Test team were away, in 1953–54 Moir took match figures of 15 for 203 for Otago against Central Districts at Pukekura Park, New Plymouth. He toured India and Pakistan in 1955–56, and England in 1958, but with little success on either tour. Moir was selected in the trial match for South Island against North Island. He scored 52 not out and 70 and took two wickets in South Island's victory, and was selected in the Test team for the two-match series. He took five wickets in the two Tests, but they were his last Tests. He had three more successful seasons with Otago before retiring with a record number of wickets in the Plunket Shield.

Personal life Moir worked as a school teacher.