Neville John Acland Foster (28 September 1890 – 8 January 1978) was an English cricket

Cricket

Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...

er. A right-handed batsman, he was the youngest of seven brothers to play 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 Worcestershire

Worcestershire County Cricket Club

Worcestershire County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Worcestershire...

, though his county cricket

County cricket

County cricket is the highest level of domestic cricket in England and Wales. For the 2010 season, see 2010 English cricket season.-First-class counties:...

 was restricted to two seasons as he spent most of his life in Malaya

Peninsular Malaysia

Peninsular Malaysia , also known as West Malaysia , is the part of Malaysia which lies on the Malay Peninsula. Its area is . It shares a land border with Thailand in the north. To the south is the island of Singapore. Across the Strait of Malacca to the west lies the island of Sumatra...

.

Biography

Born in Malvern

Malvern, Worcestershire

Malvern is a town and civil parish in Worcestershire, England, governed by Malvern Town Council. As of the 2001 census it has a population of 28,749, and includes the historical settlement and commercial centre of Great Malvern on the steep eastern flank of the Malvern Hills, and the former...

, Foster played twice for the Federated Malay States

Federated Malay States cricket team

The Federated Malay States cricket team was a team that represented the Federated Malay States in international cricket matches between 1905 and 1940. Cricket has been played in Peninsular Malaysia since the 1880s, and the Federated Malay States usually combined with the Straits Settlements cricket...

 against the Straits Settlements

Straits Settlements cricket team

The Straits Settlements cricket team was the team that represented the Straits Settlements in international cricket matches between 1890 and 1940.-History:...

 in 1911 and 1912, he made his first-class debut for his native Worcestershire in May 1914 when he played in a County Championship

County Championship

The County Championship is the domestic first-class cricket competition in England and Wales...

 match against Middlesex

Middlesex County Cricket Club

Middlesex County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Middlesex. It was announced in February 2009 that Middlesex changed their limited overs name from the Middlesex Crusaders, to the...

. He played in two further matches that season.

Back in Malaya, he played a third match for the Federated Malay States against the Straits Settlements in Kuala Lumpur

Kuala Lumpur

Kuala Lumpur is the capital and the second largest city in Malaysia by population. The city proper, making up an area of , has a population of 1.4 million as of 2010. Greater Kuala Lumpur, also known as the Klang Valley, is an urban agglomeration of 7.2 million...

 in 1922, before returning to England

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...

 for his final season of first-class cricket. He played five County Championship matches for Worcestershire that season, his availability restricted by a side injury. The remainder of his recorded cricket career took place in Malaya, eventually captaining the Federated Malay States for whom he played six more times, five times against the Straits Settlements and once against Hong Kong

Hong Kong cricket team

The Hong Kong cricket team represents Hong Kong in international cricket. It played its first match in 1866 and has been an associate member of the International Cricket Council since 1969....

.

He also played three times for the combined Malaya cricket team

Malaya cricket team

The Malaya cricket team was a team that represented the combined territories of the Federated Malay States and the Straits Settlements in various international cricket matches between 1906 and 1961.-Early days:...

, playing against Hong Kong in 1926, and against Hong Kong and Shanghai

Shanghai cricket team

The Shanghai cricket team was a cricket team that played various international matches between 1866 and 1948. With cricket in the rest of China almost non-existent, for that period they were the de facto Chinese national side.-History:...

in 1927. He died in 1978 in Malvern, the last survivor of his cricket playing brothers.