ONE of Kent's best-known sports journalists, Dudley Moore, has died suddenly at the age of 71. Mr Moore began his long and successful reporting career with the Kent Messenger Group in Maidstone and subsequently worked in Chatham and in London for Extel before launching his own news and sports agency in Rochester in 1961.

After switching exclusively to sport, his became a familiar voice on county radio with his coverage of Gillingham Football Club, but cricket remained his abiding passion. After a playing career that included matches for Kent amateurs, he went on to cover Kent county games for more than three decades, providing summaries for Wisden Cricketers' Almanack and, in 1988, wrote to a testing deadline to produce The History of Kent County Cricket Club in conjunction with Derek Underwood.

He also assisted with the autobiographies of county and England players Mike Denness, Bob Woolmer and Alan Knott. A reporter of the old school with immaculate short-hand and dry sense of humour, he never fully retired from the job and, up until the time of his death, was still co-ordinating reports for the Invicta Dynamos Ice Hockey Club Line.

He recent years he lived at Kingsgate. He was a social member of the Royal Temple Yacht Club and the Cricket Writers' Club.

Mr Moore, who was born in Gravesend, leaves a widow Pat, two daughters and two grandchildren.