Maurice Alfred McCanlis was an English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 sportsman who played first-class cricket

First-class cricket

First-class cricket is a class of cricket that consists of matches of three or more days' scheduled duration, that are between two sides of eleven players and are officially adjudged first-class by virtue of the standard of the competing teams...

 for Oxford University

Oxford University Cricket Club

Oxford University Cricket Club is a first-class cricket team, representing the University of Oxford. It plays its home games at the University Parks in Oxford, England...

 and represented England at rugby union

Rugby union

Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...

.

McCanlis bowled right-arm medium pace and was noted for his out swinging deliveries to right-handers. Most of his first-class matches were with Oxford University and he captained them in the 1928 University Matches. He also played two matches for Surrey

Surrey County Cricket Club

Surrey County Cricket Club is one of the 18 professional county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Surrey. Its limited overs team is called the Surrey Lions...

 and one for Gloucestershire

Gloucestershire County Cricket Club

Gloucestershire County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh national cricket structure, representing the historic county of Gloucestershire. Its limited overs team is called the Gloucestershire Gladiators....

 during his career.

He was capped twice for the England national rugby union team

England national rugby union team

The England national rugby union team represents England in rugby union. They compete in the annual Six Nations Championship with France, Ireland, Scotland, Italy, and Wales. They have won this championship on 26 occasions, 12 times winning the Grand Slam, making them the most successful team in...

 in the 1931 Five Nations Championship

1931 Five Nations Championship

The 1931 Five Nations Championship was the seventeenth series of the rugby union Five Nations Championship following the inclusion of France into the Home Nations Championship. Including the previous Home Nations Championships, this was the forty-fourth series of the annual northern hemisphere...

, appearing in their games against Ireland and Wales. He played mainly as a three-quarter and also represented Gloucester and Oxford.

In 1938 and 1940 he made a return to cricket with a couple of Ranji Trophy

Ranji Trophy

The Ranji Trophy is a domestic first-class cricket championship played in India between different city and state sides, equivalent to the County Championship in England and the Sheffield Shield in Australia...

 appearances for Rajputana

Rajasthan cricket team

The Rajasthan cricket team is a domestic cricket team based in the Indian state of Rajasthan. Team emerged as the champion of the Ranji Trophy in 2011, after finishing runners-up eight times . It is currently in the Ranji Trophy elite group."Rajasthan cricket team" is also popularly known as...

while he was in India on a teaching job. From 1932 to 1966, McCanlis was a teacher at Cheltenham.