Matthew Caleb Kleinveldt (born 10 August 1989) is an English-born South African professional

cricketer 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 ...

. Though born and bred in England, Kleinveldt rejected an offer to play for

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Berkshire to the north, Surrey and West Sussex to the east, the Isle of Wight across the Solent to the south, ...

due to England's new stern sporting visa requirements. He duly moved back to South Africa to start a cricketing career there. Kleinveldt is also cousin of ex-Protea cricketer

Rory Kleinveldt Rory Keith Kleinveldt (born 15 March 1983) is a South African former cricketer. He made his international debut in a Twenty20 International against Bangladesh in Johannesburg on 5 November 2008. In January 2019, Kleinveldt announced his retiremen ...

Domestic career

Though born in England, Kleinveldt made his professional cricketing debuts all in South Africa. A tall, elegant

left-handed In human biology, handedness is an individual's preferential use of one hand, known as the dominant hand, due to and causing it to be stronger, faster or more dextrous. The other hand, comparatively often the weaker, less dextrous or simply l ...

batsman, Kleinveldt had a respectable first-class debut scoring 41 in the first innings and 13 in the second, against Eastern Province in 2010. He made his debut for the

Cape Cobras The Cape Cobras are a former franchise cricket team representing the Western Province, Boland, and South Western Districts regions in what was the South African domestic franchise era. The team's home venues were based between Newlands ...

in early 2012 scoring 9 runs against the

Dolphins A dolphin is an aquatic mammal in the cetacean clade Odontoceti (toothed whale). Dolphins belong to the families Delphinidae (the oceanic dolphins), Platanistidae (the Indian river dolphins), Iniidae (the New World river dolphins), Pontopori ...

before being dismissed. He then made another debut for the

in 2015 in their Four-day Test against the

where he scored 99 runs. He was the leading run-scorer in the

2017–18 Sunfoil 3-Day Cup The 2017–18 Sunfoil 3-Day Cup was a first-class cricket competition that took place in South Africa from 12 October 2017 to 15 April 2018. The competition was played between the thirteen South African provincial teams and Namibia. Unlike its c ...

for

Western Province Western Province or West Province may refer to: *Western Province, Cameroon *Western Province, Rwanda *Western Province (Kenya) *Western Province (Papua New Guinea) *Western Province (Solomon Islands) *Western Province, Sri Lanka *Western Provinc ...

, with 446 runs in nine matches. He was also the leading run-scorer for Western Province in the

2018–19 CSA 3-Day Provincial Cup The 2018–19 CSA 3-Day Provincial Cup was a first-class cricket competition that took place in South Africa from 4 October 2018 to 14 April 2019. This was the first edition of the tournament not to be sponsored by Sunfoil, after they decided n ...

, with 629 runs in eight matches, and the leading run-scorer for Western Province in the

2018–19 CSA Provincial One-Day Challenge The 2018–19 CSA Provincial One-Day Challenge was a List A cricket competition that took place in South Africa from 7 October 2018 to 7 April 2019. The tournament was played in parallel with the 2018–19 CSA 3-Day Provincial Cup, a first-clas ...

, with 426 runs in ten matches. In April 2021, he was named in Free State's squad, ahead of the 2021–22 cricket season in South Africa.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kleinveldt, Matthew 1989 births Living people English cricketers Cricketers from Southampton English emigrants to South Africa Cape Cobras cricketers Western Province cricketers Free State cricketers