Thomas James Matthews (3 April 1884, Mount Gambier, South Australia – 14 October 1943, Melbourne, Victoria) was an Australian Test cricketer. He bowled leg breaks. Prior to becoming an international cricketer he played Australian rules football with St Kilda in the Victorian Football League and Williamstown in the Victorian Football Association.
He played in eight Test matches for the Australian cricket team, two in Australia in the 1911/12 season, and six in the 1912 Triangular Tournament in England. He played first-class cricket for Victoria in the seasons from 1906/07 to 1914/15, playing in 67 first-class matches in all, although 28 were played for Australia on the 1912 tour of England.
He is famed for being the only player to have ever taken two hat-tricks in the same Test match. In the opening Test of the 1912 Triangular Tournament, playing against South Africa at Old Trafford, he took a hat-trick in each innings. He took the last three wickets in South Africa's first innings, to prevent them avoiding the follow on; later the same day, 28 May 1912, he took a second hat-trick in the second innings. None of the dismissals required the assistance of any fielders: the first batsman was bowled, then two were leg before wicket, then another bowled, and finally two more caught and bowled. South African wicket-keeper Tommy Ward was his third victim in both hat-tricks, being the only known instance of a king pair on debut in Test cricket.
Matthews took no other wickets in the match, giving him match figures of 6 wickets for 54 runs, but he did take a further 9 wickets in the series, including 4/29 in the fifth match of the series, again against South Africa.
Famous quotes containing the word matthews:
“I was supposed to retire when I was seventy-two years old, but I was seventy-seven when I retired. On my seventy-sixth birthday a lady had triplets. It was quite a birthday present.”
—Josephine Riley Matthews (b. 1897)