Matthew Maynard is one of the modern greats of Glamorgan Cricket, having struck the greatest hundreds for the Club – the first of which occurred in dramatic fashion in 1985 as Matthew burst onto the county scene at Swansea with a century on his first-class debut, reached with three successive sixes off Yorkshire’s Phil Carrick.
Born in Lancashire and brought up in Menai Bridge, Matthew had a short spell with Kent’ before joining the Glamorgan staff in 1985. For the next twenty-one years, the gifted right-handed batsman thrilled the county’s supporters with his dashing strokeplay, and in 1986 he became the youngest-ever Glamorgan player to score a thousand runs in a season. Further displays of uninhibited batting saw Matthew play in the first of four Tests for England during their series against the West Indies at The Oval in 1988. The presence of Viv Richards in the Glamorgan side during the early 1990s helped Matthew curb his impetuous instincts, and a series of large hundreds soon followed. In 1991 Matthew scored hundreds in each innings against Gloucestershire, a double century against Nottinghamshire and at the end of the summer, a career best 243 against Hampshire at Southampton.
His quick-scoring talents were also instrumental behind Glamorgan’s success in one-day cricket during the 1990’s, starting with the Sunday League title in 1993 a summer when Matthew hit a century before lunch against the Australians at Neath, and was recalled to the England side for two Tests in the Ashes series, as well as the winter tour to the West Indies. Having briefly led Glamorgan during 1992 when Alan Butcher was injured, Matthew returned to the captaincy in 1996 and the following year led Glamorgan to their third Championship success, plus a semi-final place in the Nat West Trophy. He was in vintage form in the title-clinching game at Taunton where, in poor light, he made 142 against Somerset and reached his hundred without hitting a single.
After overcoming an injury in 1998, Matthew returned to form in 1999 with 170 against Kent at Canterbury, and an imperious 186 against Yorkshire at Headingley, before leading Glamorgan against Gloucestershire in the final of the Benson and Hedges Cup at Lord’s. Having scored a
magnificent hundred in the semi-final against Surrey, he added another to his tally in the final, but this time his efforts were in a losing cause. At the end of 2000, Matthew stood down from the captaincy, but his contribution to Glamorgan cricket did not end, with the master batsman playing a series of vital innings as the county won the Norwich Union Division Two title in 2001, followed by the Division One title in 2002 as well as centuries in each innings against Gloucestershire at Cheltenham – a feat he had also achieved during 1991.
In 2004 Matthew was a member of the Glamorgan side that again won the National League title besides winning promotion into Division One of the County Championship. He was then appointed Assistant Coach to England`s one-day team for their tours to Namibia, Zimbabwe and South Africa in 2004/05. After one Championship and National League appearance in 2005 – his Testimonial Year with Glamorgan – Matthew retired from first-class cricket to become Assistant Coach to the England teams. Whereas other players, may have started their first-class career with a duck, and then gone out with a brilliant hundred, Matthew did it the other way around, starting with a debut century at Swansea and twenty years later, ending it with nought at Edgbaston!
Matthew remained as England’s Assistant Coach until 2007, during which time he was part of the England set-up that regained the Ashes in 2005. He then became Glamorgan`s Cricket Manager, serving in this position until 2010 before coaching various franchises in T20 competitions in South Africa and the West Indies. Matthew was Director of Cricket with Somerset between 2015 and 2017 before being a batting consultant at Glamorgan during 2018. He then became Head Coach in 2019 – a year which also saw Matthew being awarded with the MBE in the New Year Honour’s List – before standing down from the post as Championship Coach at the end of the 2023 season.
MAYNARD, Matthew Peter
Born – Oldham, 21st March 1966.
Best performances for Glamorgan:
In first-class cricket – 243 v Hampshire at Southampton, 1991; 3/21 v Oxford University at The Parks, 1987.
In List A cricket – 151* v Middlesex at Lord`s, 1996 and v Durham at Darlington, 1991; 1/13 v Somerset at Sophia Gardens, 1999.
In T20 cricket – 72 v Worcestershire at Sophia Gardens, 2003.
| M | I | NO | RUNS | AV | 100 | 50 | CT | ST | |
| First-class | 358 | 585 | 57 | 22764 | 43.11 | 54 | 123 | 338 | 5 |
| List A | 384 | 369 | 43 | 12278 | 37.67 | 15 | 77 | 163 | 5 |
| T20 | 12 | 12 | 0 | 424 | 35.33 | – | 4 | 9 | – |
| Balls | M | R | W | AV | 5wI | 10wM | |
| First-class | 997 | 25 | 797 | 6 | 132.83 | – | – |
| List A | 112 | 0 | 110 | 1 | 110.00 | – | – |