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

cricketer 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 ...

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

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

due to England's new stern sporting visa requirements. He duly moved back to

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

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 England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, Kleinveldt made his professional cricketing debuts all in

. 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 it being stronger, faster or more dextrous. The other hand, comparatively often the weaker, less dextrous or simply less subjecti ...

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 Six Gun Grill Cape Cobras are a franchise cricket team representing the Western Province, Boland, and South Western Districts areas in South African domestic cricket. The team's home venues are Newlands Cricket Ground, Cape Town, Boland ...

in early 2012 scoring 9 runs against the

Dolphins A dolphin is an aquatic mammal within the infraorder Cetacea. Dolphin species belong to the families Delphinidae (the oceanic dolphins), Platanistidae (the Indian river dolphins), Iniidae (the New World river dolphins), Pontoporiidae (t ...

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 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 Provin ...

, 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