Matthew James Wood (born 6 April 1977,

Huddersfield Huddersfield is a market town in the Kirklees district in West Yorkshire, England. It is the administrative centre and largest settlement in the Kirklees district. The town is in the foothills of the Pennines. The River Holme's confluence into ...

, Yorkshire, England) is a former English

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 officiall ...

er who played for

Yorkshire County Cricket Club Yorkshire County Cricket Club is one of 18 first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Yorkshire. Yorkshire are the most successful team in English cricketing hi ...

and

Glamorgan , HQ = Cardiff , Government = Glamorgan County Council (1889–1974) , Origin= , Code = GLA , CodeName = Chapman code , Replace = * West Glamorgan * Mid Glamorgan * South Glamorgan , Motto ...

in a career lasting eleven years. He was a right-handed batsman and occasional

off spin Off spin is a type of finger spin bowling in cricket. A bowler who uses this technique is called an off spinner. Off spinners are right arm, right-handed spin bowling, spin bowlers who use their fingers to spin the ball. Their normal Delivery (cr ...

ner, who made his debut in first-class cricket in 1997. He played 136 first-class matches, scoring 7,052 runs with a highest score of 207, at an average of 32.80. He compiled sixteen first-class

centuries A century is a period of 100 years. Centuries are numbered ordinally in English and many other languages. The word ''century'' comes from the Latin ''centum'', meaning ''one hundred''. ''Century'' is sometimes abbreviated as c. A centennial or ...

, took 118 catches and snared two wickets at 21.50. Wood scored heavily in Second XI cricket for three years before notching a century in his second first-class match, against

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 ...

in 1998, and completing the year with three more first-class tons Including 200 not out v Warwickshire at Leeds. After his 1000 run debut season, two frustrating seasons followed but, converted to an opening batsman, he starred in Yorkshire's

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 ...

winning side in 2001, scoring four more centuries at the top of the order And scored over 1000 runs again. Wood was rewarded with two tours of Australia with the England Academy, but another slump in 2002, saw him lose his first team place. He recovered in 2003, helping himself to 1,400 runs, five centuries and the club and players player awards at

Headingley Headingley is a suburb of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, approximately two miles out of the city centre, to the north west along the A660 road. Headingley is the location of the Beckett Park campus of Leeds Beckett University and Headingle ...

, but was left out of England's plans. Wood deputised as

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

on several occasions with success in 2003 and 2004, but his hopes of promotion to Yorkshire's helm were not helped by steady seasons in 2004 and 2005, and he was dropped back to the Second XI in 2006 after another run of low scores. He began 2007 as captain of Yorkshire Second XI, but was released in mid-season. Wood joined Glamorgan in October 2007. In the 2008 season, he struggled to find his best form and finished the season captain of the 2nd XI, in February 2009, the popular Yorkshireman announced his retirement from the game.Matthew Wood announces retirement
Cricinfo, Retrieved 24 April 2009

References

External links

1977 births Living people English cricketers Glamorgan cricketers Yorkshire cricketers Cricketers from Huddersfield Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers {{england-cricket-bio-1970s-stub