Matthew Jeffery Horne (born 5 December 1970) is a former New Zealand

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 striki ...

er who played in 35

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and 50 ODIs from 1997 to 2003. Horne was an attacking right-handed opening batsman who possessed an unusually high backlift.

Early life and family

Horne was born in

Takapuna Takapuna is a suburb located on the North Shore of Auckland, New Zealand. The suburb is situated at the beginning of a south-east-facing peninsula forming the northern side of the Waitematā Harbour. While very small in terms of population, it ...

on 5 December 1970, the son of Noelene Rae Horne (née Swinton), who represented New Zealand in the

high jump The high jump is a track and field event in which competitors must jump unaided over a horizontal bar placed at measured heights without dislodging it. In its modern, most-practiced format, a bar is placed between two standards with a crash mat f ...

, and Valentine Arthur Horne. His older brother

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also played international cricket for New Zealand.

Domestic career

In the 1995–96

Shell Trophy New Zealand has had a domestic first-class cricket championship since the 1906–07 season. Since the 2009–10 season it has been known by its original name of the Plunket Shield. History The Plunket Shield competition was instigated in Octob ...

final he made 190 to hand Auckland the championship. The following season he moved to

Otago Otago (, ; mi, Ōtākou ) is a region of New Zealand located in the southern half of the South Island administered by the Otago Regional Council. It has an area of approximately , making it the country's second largest local government reg ...

and after a prolific season he was welcomed into the New Zealand side. During the 2003–04 he and Aaron Barnes added a record 347* for the fifth wicket against

Northern Districts The Northern Districts men's cricket team are one of six New Zealand first-class cricket teams that make up New Zealand Cricket. They are based in the northern half of the North Island of New Zealand (excluding Auckland). They compete in the ...

Eden Park Eden Park is New Zealand's largest sports stadium, with a capacity of 50,000. Located in central Auckland, New Zealand's largest city, it is three kilometres southwest of the CBD, on the boundary between the suburbs of Mount Eden and King ...

International career

He made his Test debut in February 1997 and made his maiden Test hundred soon after, against Australia at

Hobart Hobart ( ; Nuennonne/Palawa kani: ''nipaluna'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian island state of Tasmania. Home to almost half of all Tasmanians, it is the least-populated Australian state capital city, and second-small ...

in summer of 1997–98. He made 3 more hundreds in his international career, two against Zimbabwe and a vital one at Lord's in 1999 to help give them a rare away series win. After nine Tests without a half century he lost his place in the side and only played occasionally from there on in. Horne, along with

Nathan Astle Nathan John Astle (born 15 September 1971) is a former New Zealand cricketer, who played all formats of the game. A right-handed batsman who played as an opener in One Day Internationals (ODI), while batting in the middle order in Test matches ...

, currently holds the record for a 4th wicket partnership for New Zealand totalling 243 runs against Zimbabwe in Auckland during the 1997–1998 season.

After cricket

He retired from all forms of competitive cricket in May 2006. He is currently a high performance coach with Auckland cricket.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Horne, Matt 1970 births Living people New Zealand Test cricketers New Zealand One Day International cricketers New Zealand cricketers New Zealand cricket coaches Cricketers from Auckland Auckland cricketers Otago cricketers Commonwealth Games bronze medallists for New Zealand Commonwealth Games medallists in cricket Medallists at the 1998 Commonwealth Games Cricketers at the 1998 Commonwealth Games Cricketers at the 1999 Cricket World Cup People from Takapuna