Jimmy Matthews

Australia
Jimmy Matthews
INTL CAREER: 1912 - 1912

Full Name

Thomas James Matthews

Born

April 03, 1884, Mount Gambier, South Australia

Died

October 14, 1943, Caulfield, Melbourne, Victoria, (aged 59y 194d)

Batting Style

Right hand Bat

Bowling Style

Legbreak

Jimmy Matthews was a small, leathery, but remarkably tough legspinner whose place in cricket history was secured when he took a hat-trick in each innings of the Old Trafford Test against South Africa during the ill-fated 1912 Triangular Tournament. Both feats came on the same day, and were his only wickets in the game. That particularly wet year was a good one for Matthews - he took 85 wickets at 19.37. He had only made his Test debut the previous winter, doing enough in the last three Tests against England to win selection for the tour. In all, he played more games on the 1912 tour (28) than he did in his entire first-class career in Australia. He did not resume playing after the war, even though he was still comparatively young, and for many years was curator at Williamstown.
Martin Williamson