Austin Matthews
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Austin Matthews (died 29 July 1977) was a
cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...
er who played for
Northamptonshire Northamptonshire ( ; abbreviated Northants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It is bordered by Leicestershire, Rutland and Lincolnshire to the north, Cambridgeshire to the east, Bedfordshi ...
,
Glamorgan Glamorgan (), or sometimes Glamorganshire ( or ), was Historic counties of Wales, one of the thirteen counties of Wales that existed from 1536 until their abolishment in 1974. It is located in the South Wales, south of Wales. Originally an ea ...
and
England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...
.


Cricketing career

Austin Matthews began playing cricket at a young age with the Cardiff club and with a natural height advantage he showed promise both as a fast-medium bowler and a hard-hitting batsman. However, from 1926 he moved to Northampton and thus became qualified for Northamptonshire. Competing for a place with Nobby Clark and medium-pacer Albert Thomas, Matthews played fairly frequently in 1928 and regularly from 1929 but in fact in these initial years fared better as a batsman than bowler, hitting 116 against
Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It is bordered by Staffordshire and Leicestershire to the north, Northamptonshire to the east, Ox ...
at Edgbaston and falling only 45 short of a four-figure aggregate – which in fact placed him fourth in batting for the county. However, in 1930 he did not reach fifty, and subsequently his batting declined to the point that from 1935 he did not once reach fifty and was regarded purely as a bowler. Although Matthews took 93 wickets in the dry summer of 1933 and formed one of the better new ball bowling partnerships with Clark, his very poor record in 1935 suggested his talent lacked depth. However, in 1936, as Northamptonshire moved into the deepest abyss of form of any county side, ''
Wisden ''Wisden Cricketers' Almanack'', or simply ''Wisden'', colloquially the Bible of Cricket, is a cricket reference book published annually in the United Kingdom. The description "Bible of cricket" (or variations thereof) has been applied to ''Wi ...
'' said that "For sheer consistency, Matthews stood alone" and that he had had one of his best seasons for the county. Then in 1937, Matthews became coach at
Stowe School The Stowe School is a public school (English private boarding school) for pupils aged 13–18 in the countryside of Stowe, England. It was opened on 11 May, 1923 at Stowe House, a Grade I Heritage Estate belonging to the British Crown. ...
and was not expected to play any first-class cricket. However, when
Jack Mercer Winfield Bennett Mercer (January 31, 1910 – December 7, 1984), known professionally as Jack Mercer, was an American voice actor. He is best known as the voice of cartoon characters Popeye the Sailor Man and Felix the Cat. The son of vaudevil ...
was injured, Maurice Turnbull asked him to help Glamorgan and he accepted. In Matthews' third match for the county, he took fourteen
Sussex Sussex (Help:IPA/English, /ˈsʌsɪks/; from the Old English ''Sūþseaxe''; lit. 'South Saxons'; 'Sussex') is an area within South East England that was historically a kingdom of Sussex, kingdom and, later, a Historic counties of England, ...
wickets for 132 runs on a batsman's pitch at
Hastings Hastings ( ) is a seaside town and Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in East Sussex on the south coast of England, east of Lewes and south east of London. The town gives its name to the Battle of Hastings, which took place to th ...
, and two weeks later was a controversial choice for the third Test match against
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at
The Oval The Oval, currently named for sponsorship reasons as the Kia Oval, is an international cricket ground in Kennington, located in the borough of Lambeth, in south London. The Oval has been the home ground of Surrey County Cricket Club sinc ...
, making his debut alongside
Denis Compton Denis Charles Scott Compton (23 May 1918 – 23 April 1997) was an English multi-sportsman. As a cricketer he played in 78 Test matches and spent his whole career with Middlesex. As a footballer, he played as a winger and spent most of his ca ...
. He took two wickets (
Walter Hadlee Walter Arnold Hadlee (4 June 1915 – 29 September 2006) was a New Zealand cricketer and Test match captain. He played domestic first-class cricket for Canterbury and Otago. Three of his five sons, Sir Richard, Dayle and Barry played cricke ...
in both innings), made two runs and took one catch, and was never picked again. However, in contrast to his average of 26.53 in ten seasons for Northamptonshire, Matthews in 1937 headed the first-class bowling averages and came close to repeating this feat in 1938 and 1946, when he equalled his 1933 haul of 93 wickets and took seven for twelve on a treacherous pitch against
Somerset Somerset ( , ), Archaism, archaically Somersetshire ( , , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel, Gloucestershire, and Bristol to the north, Wiltshire to the east ...
. For Glamorgan, Austin Matthews took 225 wickets at the low average of 15.88 runs per wicket, and after
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
he also coached
Cambridge University The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...
. In later years he occasionally wrote for cricket publications because of his strong criticism of post-war coaching methods.


Other sports

An all-round sportsman, Matthews played
rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...
for
Penarth RFC Penarth Rugby Football Club is a Welsh rugby union club based since 1924 at The Athletic Field, Lavernock Road, in Penarth, in the Vale of Glamorgan in Wales. Team history Origins and early history Penarth RFC was founded in 1879 by Cyril and ...
and later Northampton RFC. In 1929, during his time with Penarth, Matthews was a final Welsh rugby trialist and his cap is held in the Penarth Club's archive. Matthews captained Northampton RFC between 1935 and 1937. His Northampton cap is also lodged with the Penarth RFC archive together with the cap gained by Matthews' father, Frederick, as a final Welsh rugby trialist in 1896. Matthews also represented Wales at table tennis. He died 29 July 1977 in
Penrhyn Bay Penrhyn Bay ( "headland bay") is a seaside town on the northern coast of Wales, in Conwy county borough, within the parish or community of Llandudno, and part of the ''ecclesiastical'' parish of Llanrhos. It is a prosperous village, with a clus ...
,
Llandudno Llandudno (, ) is a seaside resort, town and community (Wales), community in Conwy County Borough, Wales, located on the Creuddyn peninsula, which protrudes into the Irish Sea. In the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 UK census, the community â ...
, Caernarvonshire.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Matthews, Austin 1977 deaths Cricketers from the Vale of Glamorgan England Test cricketers English cricketers of 1919 to 1945 20th-century English sportsmen English cricketers Glamorgan cricketers H. D. G. Leveson Gower's XI cricketers North v South cricketers Northamptonshire cricketers Penarth RFC players Royal Air Force cricketers Rugby union players from Penarth Welsh cricketers Welsh male table tennis players Welsh rugby union players Cricketers from Penarth Date of birth missing Place of birth missing