R. E. Foster

Foster was educated at Malvern College and University College, Oxford. He first played for Oxford University Cricket Club in 1897; in addition to cricket, he also represented Oxford at football, racquets and golf. However, although he did fairly well, it was not until 1899 that his beautiful and immaculate driving to the off-side made him into one of the finest batsmen of his time. He first played for Worcestershire while they were still a minor county but against Hampshire in 1899, their inaugural season as a first-class county, he and his brother Wilfrid Foster both scored two hundreds in a match, a feat which remains unique in county cricket. In 1900, as captain of Oxford, he scored 171 to set the record for the highest individual score in the Varsity Match, and he scored 102 not out and 136 for the Gentlemen against the Players at Lord's, the first man to score two centuries in a match in that series. In total, Foster scored 930 runs at an average of 77.5 for Oxford in the 1900 season, a record in University cricket. For these performances, Foster was named a Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1901 and the following year a superb run of form for Worcestershire resulted in him scoring 1,957 runs at an average of 54.36. However, business prevented him representing the MCC in Australia the following winter and England undoubtedly missed his brilliant batting. Moreover, apart from one match against Warwickshire, he could devote no time to first-class cricket in May and June…

In football, Foster played as a forward for the Corinthians in the early 1900s, scoring 22 goals in 26 matches. He also played for Old Malvernians, a team made up of former pupils of Malvern College. He played five matches for England between 1900 and 1902, making his debut against Wales on 26 March 1900. In his second game, against Ireland at the Dell, Southampton, he scored his first international goal in a 3–0 victory. C. B. Fry played at full-back in the same game. Foster was awarded the captaincy against Wales in his final appearance on 3 March 1902, which ended in a 0–0 draw. During his short England career he scored two goals. He also played one match for England Amateurs against Germany, on 21 September 1901, at White Hart Lane, London. He scored 6 goals in a 12–0 win.

Foster was a member of the stock exchange.