Matthew Thomas Coles (born 26 May 1990) is an English former professional

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by str ...

er. He played as a bowling

all-rounder An all-rounder is a cricketer who regularly performs well at both batting and bowling. Although all bowlers must bat and quite a handful of batsmen do bowl occasionally, most players are skilled in only one of the two disciplines and are consi ...

who bowled right-arm fast-medium pace and batted left-handed. He most recently was contracted to Essex County Cricket Club and has represented the England Lions cricket team. Coles played for

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

for two spells either side of spending 18 months at

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English cities on its south coast, Southampton and Portsmouth, Hampshire ...

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

. In

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the Impeachment of Dilma Rousseff, impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses duri ...

he joined Bangladesh Premier League side Dhaka Dynamites for part of their season.

Early life and career

Coles was born in

Maidstone Maidstone is the largest town in Kent, England, of which it is the county town. Maidstone is historically important and lies 32 miles (51 km) east-south-east of London. The River Medway runs through the centre of the town, linking it wi ...

in 1990.Matt Coles
CricInfo. Retrieved 2016-11-11. He attended

The Maplesden Noakes School The Maplesden Noakes School is a coeducational secondary school and sixth form with academy status, located in Maidstone, Kent, England. Since September 2005, the school has had a planned admission number of 180. The school's intake is regular ...

and Mid-Kent College in the town and played for

age group teams at under-13, under-15 and under-17 levels. He was a member of Kent's cricket academyMatt Coles: Derbyshire chase Kent all-rounder
BBC Sport, 2013-08-23. Retrieved 2016-11-13. and first played for Kent's Second XI in 2007 before making his

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 one of three or more days' scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officia ...

debut for the county in April 2009 against

Loughborough UCCE Loughborough MCC University (previously known as Loughborough University Centre of Cricketing Excellence) is a cricket coaching centre based at Loughborough University in Loughborough, Leicestershire, England, and the name under which the universi ...

Cricketing career

After making his debut, Coles played one more first-class match in 2009, appearing in Kent's final

County Championship The County Championship (referred to as the LV= Insurance County Championship for sponsorship reasons) is the domestic first-class cricket competition in England and Wales and is organised by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB). It bec ...

match of the season against

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean. The county town is the city of Gl ...

in September 2009.First-class matches played by Matt Coles
CricketArchive. Retrieved 2016-11-11. He also made four appearances in the Pro 40 tournament for the county during 2009. Coles became a regular in Kent teams the following season. He reached his maiden first-class century against

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other English counties, functions have ...

by hitting a reverse sweep for six in April 2012.Matt Coles stars as Kent pile on runs against Yorkshire
BBC Sport, 2012-04-06.Gibson R (2012
Matt Coles century takes Kent past 500 against Yorkshire
''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'', 2012-04-06. Retrieved 2016-11-13. He was awarded a county cap in August 2012.Coles and Northeast honoured with county caps in Canterbury Week presentation
Kent County Cricket Club, 2012-08-10. Retrieved 2014-03-03. During the 2012 season Coles took 59 first-class wickets, and earned a call up to the England Lions squad. He took two wickets on his Lions' debut in May 2012Kent back Matt Coles to regain England Lions place
BBC Sport, 2013-03-20. Retrieved 2016-11-13. and was included on the Lions' tour of Australia in 2013. He was sent home early from the tour along with Ben Stokes for drinking beyond curfew hours more than once. Pringle D (2013
England Lions pair Matt Coles and Ben Stokes sent home from Australia tour for persistent late night drinking
'' Daily Telegraph'', 2013-02-20. Retrieved 2016-11-13.England pair Matt Coles and Ben Stokes sent home from Australia
BBC Sport, 2013-02-20. Retrieved 2016-11-13.

Move to Hampshire, 2013

Coles turned down a new contract offered by Kent in August 2013Matt Coles: Kent all-rounder turns down new contract
BBC Sport, 2013-08-22. and, after initially attracting attention from

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southern end of the Pennine range of hills and part of the National Forest. It borders Greater Manchester to the nor ...

, signed on loan for

until the end of the season.Hampshire sign Kent all-rounder on loan

BBC Sport BBC Sport is the sports division of the BBC, providing national sports coverage for BBC television, radio and online. The BBC holds the television and radio UK broadcasting rights to several sports, broadcasting the sport live or alongside flag ...

, 2013-08-27. Retrieved 2016-11-13. In Hampshire's last game of the season against

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and Grea ...

, Coles took match figures of 10/154 and later in the same month signed a 3–year deal.Hampshire sign Kent all-rounder on three-year deal

, 2013-09-27. Retrieved 2016-11-13.Matt Coles: Unsettled all-rounder released by Hampshire
BBC Sport, 2015-03-07. Retrieved 2016-11-13.

Return to Kent, 2015

Coles took 41 wickets in 13 County Championship matches for Hampshire in 2014 as well as 27 wickets in one-day competitions. He scored an 18 ball half-century in the T20 Blast but was released by Hampshire in March 2015 after only one year with the club saying that he had not "settled" at the county.Matt Coles: Kent re-sign all-rounder after Hampshire exit
BBC Sport, 2015-03-10. Retrieved 2016-11-13. He returned to Kent in the same month and took 100 wickets in all formats for Kent in the 2015 seasonNortheast and Coles in PCA Team of 2015
Kent County Cricket Club, 2015-09-30. Retrieved 2015-09-30. and won the Kent Player of the Year award at the end of the season,Matt Coles wins Spitfire Kent Player of the Year 2015
Kent County Cricket Club, 2015-09-22. Retrieved 2015-09-30. and was chosen in the

Professional Cricketers' Association The Professional Cricketers' Association is the representative body of past and present first-class cricketers in England and Wales, founded in 1967 by former England fast bowler Fred Rumsey (when it was known as the Cricketers' Association). In t ...

Team of 2015 in September 2015. He was nominated as part of a four-man shortlist as the

Player of the Year.Ashes winner Barstow among PCA nominees
''

The Cricketer ''The Cricketer'' is a monthly English cricket magazine providing writing and photography from international, county and club cricket. The magazine was founded in 1921 by Sir Pelham Warner, an ex-England captain turned cricket writer. Warner ...

'', 2015-09-25. Retrieved 2015-09-30. During the season, Coles scored a century against Surrey at

The Oval The Oval, currently known 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 since ...

in the

Royal London One-Day Cup The Royal London One-Day Cup is a fifty-over limited overs cricket competition for the England and Wales first-class counties. It began in 2014 as a replacement for the ECB 40 tournament, which ran from 2010 to 2013. In contrast to its 40-ove ...

quarter final,Coles gives Surrey fright after Roy's hundred

ESPNcricinfo ESPN cricinfo (formerly known as Cricinfo or CricInfo) is a sports news website exclusively for the game of cricket. The site features news, articles, live coverage of cricket matches (including liveblogs and scorecards), and ''StatsGuru'', a ...

, 2015-08-27. Retrieved 2015-09-30. took ten wickets in the

match against LeicestershireColes completes 10-for in Kent breeze

, 2015-07-07. Retrieved 2015-09-30. and took a hat-trick against

Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated Notts.) is a landlocked county in the East Midlands region of England, bordering South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. The trad ...

in the One-Day Cup.One-Day Cup: Matt Coles' hat-trick sees Kent beat Notts
BBC sport website, 2015-08-17. Retrieved 2015-09-30. During the season he signed a long-term contract extension with Kent.Harvey R (2015
All-rounder Matt Coles signs a long-term contract extension with Kent
''

Kent Online KM Media Group is a multimedia company in the county of Kent, England which originated as the publisher of the Kent Messenger. The Group now produces local newspapers, radio stations and websites throughout the county. Iliffe Media acquired KM ...

'', 2015-07-25. Retrieved 2016-11-17. During the 2016 season Coles' behaviour caused him to be investigated by Kent and led to him missing a number of matches during the middle of the season.Coles' behaviour investigated by Kent
CricInfo, 2016-06-27, Retrieved 2016-11-11.Kent fast bowler Matt Coles missing from squad due to an on-going employer/employee matter
''

'', 2016-07-03. Retrieved 2016-11-17.Computer says yes as Coles is named for North-South fixtures
CricInfo, 2016-08-03. Retrieved 2016-11-11. He was also suspended for two County Championship matches by the ECB in May after being found to have thrown the ball in a "dangerous manner",Kent paceman Matt Coles suspended for throwing ball in 'dangerous manner'
BBC Sport, 2016-05-06. Retrieved 2016-11-17. although Coles claimed he was returning the ball to the wicket-keeper. He played regularly for Kent when available and performed well enough in the 2016 Royal London One-Day Cup to be selected automatically for the

North v South The North of England and South of England cricket teams appeared in first-class cricket between the 1836 and 1961 seasons, most often in matches against each other but also individually in games against touring teams, Marylebone Cricket Club ( ...

match to be played at the start of the 2017 season in the

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and was also selected in the MCC side for the 2017

Champion County match The Champion County match is a cricket match, traditionally played between the winner of the previous season's County Championship, and the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC). The match was played at Lord's Cricket Ground for many seasons, but from 201 ...

but withdrew from both matches to rest a toe injury.Sam Northeast and Matt Coles in MCC Champion County team
Kent County Cricket Club, 2017-01-27. Retrieved 2017-01-27.Haseeb and Duckett named in MCC squad
CricInfo, 2017-01-27. Retrieved 2017-01-27.Coles to miss North v South and MCC matches
Kent County Cricket Club, 2017-02-23. Retrieved 2017-02-23. Coles began the 2017 season as a regular member of the First XI in all forms of cricket. He travelled to the Caribbean with the team to take part in the

2016–17 Regional Super50 The 2016–17 Regional Super50 was the 43rd edition of the Regional Super50, the domestic limited-overs cricket competition for the countries of the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB). The tournament was held in Antigua and Barbuda. Ten teams p ...

List A competition in February, playing in five matches and taking nine wickets during the competition, before opening the

2017 County Championship The 2017 County Championship (known for sponsorship reasons as the 2017 Specsavers County Championship), was the 118th cricket County Championship season. It was announced in March 2016 that the season would feature eight teams in Division One ...

as one of Kent's main strike bowlers. In July he took a

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 wic ...

in a T20 match against

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a historic county in southeast England. Its area is almost entirely within the wider urbanised area of London and mostly within the ceremonial county of Greater London, with small sections in neighbour ...

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States * Richmond, London, a part of London * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, ...

. After the end of the 2017 season Coles joined

on a two-year contract.Matt Coles: Essex sign Kent all-rounder on two-year contract

, 2017-10-19. Retrieved 2017-10-19. During 2019 he was loaned to Northants for a short spell.

Twenty20 franchise cricket

During the 2016 English off-season Coles signed for Dhaka Dynamites to play

Twenty20 cricket Twenty20 (T20) is a shortened game format of cricket. At the professional level, it was introduced by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) in 2003 for the inter-county competition. In a Twenty20 game, the two teams have a single innin ...

in the

2016–17 Bangladesh Premier League The 2016 Bangladesh Premier League, also known as BPL 4 and AKS BPL 2016 (for sponsorship reasons) was the fourth season of the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL), the top level professional Twenty20 cricket franchise league in Bangladesh. The comp ...

. Coles signed for Dhaka after the tournament had begun in order to develop his T20 skills.Pyman S (201
Matt Coles joins Bangladesh Premier League outfit Dhaka Dynamites
Kent News, 2016-11-11. Retrieved 2016-11-11. He made his debut for the team on 17 November against

Chittagong Vikings The Chattogram Challengers ( Chittagonian/ bn, চট্টগ্রাম চ্যালেঞ্জার্স) is a franchise cricket team which participates in the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL). The franchise was founded in 2012 & based ...

and went on to play in three matches for Dhaka, scoring 23 runs and taking two wickets.Batting and fielding for Dhaka Dynamites – Bangladesh Premier League 2016/17
CricketArchive. Retrieved 2016-12-12.
CricketArchive. Retrieved 2016-12-12. The team won the 2016–17 BPL, although Coles did not play in the final. Coles had previously applied to join the BPL draft in advance of the 2015–16 season, but had to withdraw after requiring an operation on an injured foot.Thomas J (2015
Stevens signed for BPL
''Kent Sports News'', 2015-10-22. Retrieved 2016-11-17.Hoad A (2015
Kent Cricket all-rounder Matt Coles says a winter not playing because of a foot injury may benefit him long term
''

'', 2015-12-17. Retrieved 2015-11-17.

Career Best Performances

''as of 11 November 2016''

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Coles, Mat 1990 births Living people English cricketers Kent cricketers Sportspeople from Maidstone NBC Denis Compton Award recipients Hampshire cricketers Essex cricketers Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers Northamptonshire cricketers