Matthew James Hoggard, (born 31 December 1976) is a former English

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 international cricket for

England cricket team The England men's cricket team represents cricket in England, England and cricket in Wales, Wales in international cricket. Since 1997, it has been governed by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), having been previously governed by Maryleb ...

from 2000 to 2008, playing both

Test cricket Test cricket is a Forms of cricket, format of the sport of cricket, considered the game’s most prestigious and traditional form. Often referred to as the "ultimate test" of a cricketer's skill, endurance, and temperament, it is a format of i ...

and

One Day International One Day International (ODI) is a format of cricket, played between two teams with international status, in which each team faces a fixed number of fifty overs, with the game lasting up to 7 hours. The World Cup, generally held every four yea ...

s. The 6' 2" Hoggard was a right arm fast-medium bowler and right-handed

batsman In cricket, batting is the act or skill of hitting the cricket ball, ball with a cricket bat, bat to score runs (cricket), runs and prevent the dismissal (cricket), loss of one's wicket. Any player who is currently batting is, since Septembe ...

. He was the captain of

Leicestershire Leicestershire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It is bordered by Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire to the north, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire to the south-east, Warw ...

from 2010 until he announced his retirement in 2013. Previous to this he played for

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ) is an area of Northern England which was History of Yorkshire, historically a county. Despite no longer being used for administration, Yorkshire retains a strong regional identity. The county was named after its county town, the ...

for a total of thirteen years.

Personal life

In May 2007 Hoggard's wife Sarah gave birth to a baby boy, Ernie, weighing in at 7 lbs 10 oz.

Domestic career

Early career

Hoggard began his cricketing journey at his local team, the famous Bradford League club, Pudsey Congs CC. He started his domestic career in

first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is of three or more days scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officially adju ...

in 1996. His debut List-A match followed in 1998.Matthew Hoggard
at CricInfo retrieved 27 November 2007

Late career

In Hoggard's first year as captain, he was involved in a row with Leicestershire chairman, Neil Davidson. Davidson had accused Hoggard and coach Tim Boon of setting a 'very poor example', after Hoggard and Boon had accused Davidson of interfering in team affairs after a string of poor results. Davidson eventually left the county in October 2010. In his first season at Grace Road, Hoggard took an impressive 50 First Class wickets. In 2011, Leicestershire finished bottom of the

County Championship The County Championship, currently known for sponsorship reasons as the Rothesay County Championship, is the only domestic first-class cricket competition in England and Wales. Established in 1890, it is organised by the England and Wales Cri ...

, but under Hoggard's captaincy, won the Twenty 20 Cup for the third time, making the Foxes the most successful English county side in the shortest form of the game. In September 2013, Hoggard announced his retirement from cricket at the end of the season. Unfortunately, Hoggard did not pick up any wickets in his last two games making the

Worcestershire Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It is bordered by Shropshire, Staffordshire, and the West Midlands (county), West ...

captain, Daryl Mitchell, his last victim in first-class cricket, this was before he announced his retirement.

International career

Debut days

Hoggard was initially brought into the England side under the wings of

Nasser Hussain Nasser Hussain (born 28 March 1968) is an English cricket commentator and former player who captained the England cricket team between 1999 and 2003, with his overall international career extending from 1990 to 2004. A pugnacious right-hande ...

and Duncan Fletcher in 2000. He was brought into the NatWest Series as a replacement for the injured Andy Caddick. Having only played two tests, Hoggard led the attack during England's 2001–2002 tour of India, and later took 7/63 against

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

. He then suffered an "horrific" winter tour of Australia at the hands of

Matthew Hayden Matthew Lawrence Hayden (born 29 October 1971) is an Australian cricket commentator and former cricketer. His career spanned fifteen years. Hayden was a powerful and aggressive left-handed opening batsman who, along with opening partners Ju ...

Success

During a successful tour of the

West Indies The West Indies is an island subregion of the Americas, surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, which comprises 13 independent island country, island countries and 19 dependent territory, dependencies in thr ...

for Hoggard, he took the 34th

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three Wick ...

in Test cricket on 3 April 2004, helping England to bowl out the

for 94 in their second innings of the Third Test at

Kensington Oval The Kensington Oval is a stadium located in the western part of Bridgetown, Barbados. It is the pre-eminent sporting facility on the island and is primarily used for cricket. It has hosted many important cricket games between local, regional, ...

. This took England to their first series win in the

since 1967–68, becoming the first visiting team to win three Tests in a

Caribbean The Caribbean ( , ; ; ; ) is a region in the middle of the Americas centered around the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, mostly overlapping with the West Indies. Bordered by North America to the north, Central America ...

series. Hoggard also scored his highest score with the bat, 38 against the

in August 2004. He then took 12 wickets at

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu language, Zulu and Xhosa language, Xhosa: eGoli ) (colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, Jo'burg or "The City of Gold") is the most populous city in South Africa. With 5,538,596 people in the City of Johannesburg alon ...

against

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

. In the 4th Test match of the series in South Africa in January 2005 Hoggard took 12 wickets for 205. Of Englishmen, only Johnny Wardle, who took 12 for 89 in

Cape Town Cape Town is the legislature, legislative capital city, capital of South Africa. It is the country's oldest city and the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. Cape Town is the country's List of municipalities in South Africa, second-largest ...

in 1956–57, has bettered his figures in South Africa since World War II. His match figures were England's best anywhere since Ian Botham's 13 for 106 against India in 1979–80. During the 2005 Ashes series, Hoggard scored 8 not out with Ashley Giles against

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

in the fourth Test at

Trent Bridge Trent Bridge Cricket Ground is a cricket ground mostly used for Test cricket, Test, One-day cricket, One-Day International and county cricket located in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England, just across the River Trent from the city of Nott ...

in the 2005 Ashes series, which included a well-executed cover drive for four off a

Brett Lee Brett Lee (born 8 November 1976) is an Australian former international cricketer, who played all three formats of the game. During his international career, Lee was recognised as one of the fastest bowlers in the world. With his time representin ...

full toss, as England won by three wickets by reaching 129 to take a 2–1 series lead. During the Second Ashes Test at

Adelaide Adelaide ( , ; ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...

in December 2006, Hoggard took 8 wickets in the match, with first innings figures of 7/109, in very unfavourable bowling and especially swing bowling conditions, though England still lost. Hoggard missed the fifth test in

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

with a side-strain. It ended a run of 40 consecutive tests. As of July 2007, Hoggard was sixth in the list of all-time English Test wicket-takers with 240 from 64 matches.

Struggling form & retirement

Hoggard performed well in the opening two warm up matches at the start of England's tour of

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

. In the second of these, against the Sri Lanka Cricket President's XI, Hoggard took 5–25 in a match that saw

Steve Harmison Stephen James Harmison, (born 23 October 1978) is an English former first-class cricketer, who played all formats of the game. Primarily a fast bowler, he represented England in 63 Tests, 58 ODIs, and 2 T20s. He also played county cricket ...

and James Anderson fall foul of injuries. After a disappointing performance where England lost the first test, Hoggard was dropped (along with longtime bowling partner, Steve Harmison) for the second test. He said on 18 July 2008 on

BBC Radio 5 Live BBC Radio 5 Live is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It broadcasts mainly news, sport, Talk show, discussion, interviews and phone-ins, and is on air 24 hours a day. It is the principal BBC radio station Broadca ...

Test Match Special ''Test Match Special'' (also known as ''TMS'') is a British sports radio programme, originally, as its name implies, dealing exclusively with Test cricket matches, but currently covering any professional cricket. The programme is available on BB ...

programme that he believed he would not play for England again after being left out of the Test squads against both

and

Post retirement

With Hoggard's international career all but at an end, 2009 saw an increasing amount of him in the guise of a media personality. He released a book, which had a

serialisation In computing, serialization (or serialisation, also referred to as pickling in Python) is the process of translating a data structure or object state into a format that can be stored (e.g. files in secondary storage devices, data buffers in ...

in ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

'', and contributed a regular column to ''

Cricinfo ESPNcricinfo (formerly known as Cricinfo or CricInfo) is a Sports journalism, sports news website exclusively for the game of cricket. The site features news, articles, live coverage of cricket matches (including Liveblogging, liveblogs and sco ...

''. Hoggard was considered a

scapegoat In the Bible, a scapegoat is one of a pair of kid goats that is released into the wilderness, taking with it all sins and impurities, while the other is sacrificed. The concept first appears in the Book of Leviticus, in which a goat is designate ...

for his sudden falling out of favour from the

England and Wales Cricket Board The England and Wales Cricket Board, aka ECB, is the Sports governing body, national governing body of cricket in England and Wales. It was formed on 1 January 1997 as a single governing body to combine the roles formerly fulfilled by the Test ...

. "We've had the same problems with the ECB since I started international cricket," he wrote in his book. "There were people slagging them off when I first came in and there are people still slagging them off. And it's not the ECB who pick the side anyway. See if you can find a player with a good word to say about the ECB. What are they going to do, sue me for telling the truth?"Quoted in The Old Batsman 2009. Hoggard was released by Yorkshire at the end of the 2009 season and immediately linked with an unexpected move to Leicestershire. Hoggard was announced as the new captain of Leicestershire on 9 November. He is now an assistant coach for the women's T20 cricket team Loughborough Lightning. He also works as an after dinner speaker and cricket pundit. In August 2013, Hoggard featured as a contestant on Celebrity Masterchef. In January 2020, Hoggard joined sports travel company Venatour as their Cricket Ambassador for their upcoming cricket tours. In November 2021, Hoggard was alleged to have made racist comments - which included things such as 'elephant washers' and 'you lot sit over there' - towards Azeem Rafiq and other players of Asian heritage during his time at Yorkshire at the DCMS select committee hearing on 16 November 2021. It is understood that Hoggard apologised to Rafiq over the phone.

Honours

In the 2006 New Year Honours Hoggard was awarded the MBE for his role in the successful Ashes tournament. He was also named as one of five

Wisden Cricketers of the Year The ''Wisden'' Cricketers of the Year are cricketers selected for the honour by the annual publication ''Wisden Cricketers' Almanack'', based "primarily for their influence on the previous English season". The award began in 1889 with the naming ...

in April 2006. On 6 March 2006, Hoggard was officially ranked the 4th best Test match bowler in the world. This was as a result of his

Man of the Match In team sport, a player of the match award (also known as man of the match or woman of the match) is often given to the most outstanding player in a particular match. This can be a player from either team, although the player is generally chose ...

performance for

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 ...

against

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

in the First Test match at

Nagpur Nagpur (; ISO 15919, ISO: ''Nāgapura'') is the second capital and third-largest city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is called the heart of India because of its central geographical location. It is the largest and most populated city i ...

in March 2006. On 13 May 2006 he became the tenth England bowler to take 200 Test wickets. In a 2015 analysis, statistician Andrew Samson calculated that Hoggard was England's best bowler, in terms of the batting average of the batsmen he dismissed in his career.

Bowling action

Matthew Hoggard was a specialist orthodox swing bowler, and usually took the new ball for England in Test cricket. Hoggard's primary role in the team was to utilise the shine on the new ball to test the technique of top-order batsmen against the swinging delivery. If, due to pitch or atmospheric conditions, the new ball did not swing he could be ineffective. Hoggard was seen as the consistent bowler in the team. Hoggard also had a sound defensive batting technique, but was not known for scoring runs, averaging only 7.40 with the bat. He could block up an end for the batsman at the other end to score, and was also used as a nightwatchman.

Career best performances

References

External links

*
Yorkshire County Cricket Club Player Profiles
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hoggard, Matthew 1976 births Living people Cricketers from Pudsey Cricketers at the 2003 Cricket World Cup England One Day International cricketers England Test cricketers English cricketers Test cricket hat-trick takers Free State cricketers Yorkshire cricketers Members of the Order of the British Empire Wisden Cricketers of the Year Leicestershire cricketers Leicestershire cricket captains NBC Denis Compton Award recipients Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers