2006/7 Premiership Player
Team of the Decade – 2000s
Matthew joined Hampton for the 2006/7 season as part of a well-established exchange program with Keighley CC who play in the Bradford Premier league in Yorkshire. Keighley proudly dates back to 1848 and can boast an alumni including legendary England Test players Frank Woolley and S.F Barnes.
Hampton great, Dale Towler, who played with Keighley before emigrating to Australia, initiated the exchange. His brother Ross, a tall, aggressive fast bowler was the first of the Keighley recruits to join Hampton in 1999.
A number of Hampton players have played for Keighley CC or other local clubs as part of the exchange program including Justin Ferguson (2000), Joel Crouch, 2001 and 2002), Darren Docksey, 2003), Adrian Voss (Harden CC), Sam Kenny (Long Lee CC) and Anthony Quon (Cowling CC) all of whom ventured over to the UK in our off-season.
Matthew joined Keighley in 2004 and, on returning from Australia, continued playing until 2010. He then joined Undercliffe CC for 2 seasons also in the Premier Division. Matthew returned to Keighley for one more season in 2013 before relocating to London where he works in marketing for a company in the sports and fitness industry.
Matthew recalls:
Even before a ball had been bowled, it already felt like home at Hampton as I’d previously played with so many of the guys who had either played at Keighley or at surrounding clubs in the area – Ferg, Docksey, Crouchy, Quony, Matt Pearson, Sam Kenny and of course Dale Towler. On top of that, the warmth and generosity surrounding the whole club was amazing, with a real family atmosphere from top to bottom.
I’ve got some incredible memories both on and off the field and the year culminated in a Grand Final victory!
If any of the Hammers are ever in London, give me a shout and I’d love to go out for a beer and reminisce!
Matthew made a huge contribution to Hampton winning the 2006-7 premiership, sharing a 179 run second wicket partnership with skipper Justin Ferguson. Chasing MHSOB’s 141 Hampton knocked up 281 with Matthew making a brilliant 117 and Ferg 75. In a dominant display Darren Docksey took 10 wickets in a man-of-the-match performance and Joel Crouch 6 while Joe Kenny set a Club record with 8 dismissals behind the stumps.
In that season Matthew topped the aggregates with 543 runs including 2 centuries with Justin not far behind notching up 486 runs for the year. Darren Docksey ended the season with an excellent haul of 52 wickets to take out the Club Champion award.
Joe Kenny also has great memories of that time:
Matt was an exceptional cricketer. An old fashioned cricketer… pure. Rock solid, knew his strengths and played to them skilfully. So reliable as an opener and rarely missed out. Was such a critical ingredient to our premiership win. There was a lot of external pressure on during that campaign but he absorbed it beautifully… maybe even grew because of it. His 100 in the GF was probably the best 100 in the Club’s history not to win a man of the match medal – but Darren Docksey’s 10 wickets was hard to top.
On the back of this outstanding season and GF heroics Matthew was selected in the Team of the Decade – 2000s. A tremendous accolade and further enhancing the importance of the Keighley exchange.
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