Matthew Maynard is one of the modern greats of Glamorgan Cricket, having appeared in 754 matches for the club’s 1st XI between 1985 and 2005. During this time, he scored over 35,000 runs in all formats of the game for the Welsh county and scored 69 centuries – 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 assertive and dashing strokeplay, especially in 1993 when he played several match-winning innings as the Welsh county won the Sunday League title.
He was also an astute captain and in 1997 he proudly led Glamorgan to the County Championship title. Matthew was also at the helm in 2000 when the Welsh county met Gloucestershire in the final of the Benson and Hedges Cup at Lord’s. Having scored a superb hundred in the semi-final against Surrey, Matthew made another century against Gloucestershire but his sparkling efforts were not sufficient to win the game for his side.
Matthew played in 4 Tests and 14 One-Day Internationals for England. He retired in 2005 and 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 in his final Championship appearance!
Besides coaching Glamorgan and Somerset, Matthew has also coached at international level with England and also in South Africa and the West Indies in various T20 franchises. He was also awarded the MBE in the 2019 New Year’s Honours List.