Matt is an experienced broadcaster with thousands of hours of live television under his belt. An award-winning presenter and programme-maker with an easy charm on camera, Matt has fronted national ITV news bulletins as well as sports bulletins and programmes on Sky News. He currently fronts ITV News Central in the Midlands as well as programmes for Forces TV, a news channel dedicated to the British Armed Forces. Matt has interviewed Prime Ministers, politicians, military chiefs, Olympians, celebrities and inspirational people from all walks of life in a career spanning more than twenty years. His assignments have taken him to South Africa, The Falkland Islands and China as well as Afghanistan, the United States and countries throughout Europe. Matt hosts corporate projects and events and is an engaging media trainer and speaker and an experienced voice over artist. Away from work, he is a cricket-obsessed sports fan and father.
Matt presents the regional ITV news having arrived in the southern region in 2022 to replace the legendary Fred Dineage. He clearly enjoyed his lunch with us but we would learn that this was not his first visit to the Bat & Ball and Broadhalfpenny Down.
We learned that Matt grew up in a cricketing family, describing himself as an “average club cricketer” who also enjoyed following a history of the game – particularly from the days watching VHS tapes of England’s 1987 tour of Australia, and particularly the one-day series. He also had a tape of the history of cricket including the origins in 18th century Hambledon, the two stumps, the old bats, the monument all of which he was watching in the 1980s.
He reflected on growing older as a cricket-lover; the point at which you realise you won’t play for the England, the point at which your favourite players start to retire and then the point at which the sons of your favourite players – in the case of Stuart Broad – start to retire.
His cricket life began in the family with his grandfather and uncle playing while his dad was a cricket obsessive. His mum was happy to support that as long as he took Matt and his brother with him to the matches. Friday night was preparing the pitch, Saturday was a league game, Sunday for friendlies and Tuesday for an evening game “T20 was not invented in 2003, my dad was playing it in the 1980s”. Matt and his brother went round the grounds of Herefordshire and eventually they would pick up a bat and ball and play themselves.
Matt shared some family photos with us including one with his first hero, his dad with a ‘Turbo’ bat which after a coaching session at Leinster had been given to the local sports shop by Graham Gooch. Matt’s dad bought it and promised to the first of the brothers who scored a fifty first – and it was Matt. He used it in the next game and launched into a cover drive it was so heavy that the force sent it circular, hitting Matt on the back of the head! He soon changed bats.
In the early 1980s Matt’s family moved back to their home village of Shobdon, in the Herefordshire farming country and the family played a significant part in reviving the club; the pitch had been returned to farmland and initially they would use other grounds, one of which had a pavement path running through it where play had to stop while an old lady pushed her shopping trolley through.
As teenagers, the brothers played every kind of cricket you can imagine but then graduated to club cricket from playing while the club enjoyed various successes, starting at the bottom in Division 8 and working their way through each year. Matt’s dad was one of the senior players and batted at number five (without gloves!) - for Matt he was a ‘Bothamesque’ figure and despite suffering from Angina, in 1990 he rescued the side with an innings of 125 against Hereford which won them a semi-final and eventually the Cup. Incidentally, Shobdon had a population of around 300 - while Hereford is home to around 190,000.
Matt recalled that some county sides would come to Shobdon to play in the traditional benefit matches against the club side and one In his younger days, on one occasion a Lancashire side including Clive Lloyd and Graeme Fowler came and Matt’s father held a glorious catch to dismiss the England opener.
Ian Botham was Matt’s second cricketing hero although too young, Matt has no clear memories of the thrilling 1981 ‘Ashes’ series. His first day watching a Test was the fourth day of the Edgbaston match in August 1985 - and what a day it was, once the rain stopped and play began a little late. First David Gower went from 169* past a double century, then Mike Gatting made exactly 100, while Ian Botham, arriving around tea at 572-4 hit his first ball for six. He was out for 18 from seven balls at which point, Gower declared and Ellison and Botham then reduced Australia to 37-5 at the close. England won by an innings on the following day. It was an “amazing day”, probably “the best I’d ever seen”
Two years later Botham was in trouble banned for smoking cannabis and perhaps some shenanigans with a waitress. After 60-odd days he was back and Matt recalled being on holiday with the family in Bournemouth, sitting in his dad’s car, out of the “pouring rain”, eating fish & chips and listening to the TMS commentary. Botham came on to bowl, first change and inevitably took a wicket with his first ball and perhaps another in the same over. Matt asked “Who wrote scripts like that?”
Around that time Botham signed for Matt’s nearest first-class county Worcestershire (Matt was born in Worcester) although a new hero emerged in Matt’s life – Graeme Hick. In 1988 Matt was 13 when Hick scored “his incredible” (then) 20th century record of 405* - broken eventually by Brian Lara. Matt then followed Hick’s hopes of reaching 1,000 runs by the end of May and he did that against the West Indian tourists with an innings of 178. He is the last man to achieve that record and Matt remembered fondly the players in that Worcestershire side who then won the County Championship – Hick, Botham, Moody, Dilley, Leatherdale, Radford, Lampitt and others.
While all this was happening Shobdon they had progressed to Division 3 but met an unbeaten Welsh side who put them out for just 40, winning by 10 wickets. There was a happy ending however after Shobdon again struggled in the return to 61 all out but somehow won by just one run. “Those are the games, the stories that if you play long enough at any level you are blessed to have”.
In 1992 Shobdon got their old ground back - he brought a photo of a typically picturesque village ground alongside the church - although on Sundays they would meet the rest of the team spend some time removing stones from the pitch. Then came the question “How do mark the opening of the ground?” so thay invited Worcestershire to bring a side, also for Steve Rhodes’ Benefit Year.
All the club players wanted to play and the teams were mixed so Matt, who by then had a Hick 405 bat, was thrilled to be at number three following an opening pair including his new hero Graeme Hick – sadly his was the first wicket to fall so the nearest they got to batting together was crossing on the outfield.
Matt talked about his career and how his dream had always been to work in the media. At college he did Media Studies ‘A’ level and then a took a degree in Journalism. He worked at ITV on news and sports and then on to Satanta Sports. One highlight was an interview with Graeme Hick and in the first season of the IPL, he also presented studio discussions with the live broadcast with the likes of Darren Gough, Vikram Solanki, Ronnie Irani and Hick again. Matt told us he would have “literally done the job for nothing” but sadly Santanta went bust before payday so Matt did just that!
Sadly the great days of Shobdon CC came to an end and the club folded 10 years ago after a match in which they could field just nine men. These days the pavilion is still standing in a farmer’s field. Matt meanwhile moved on in his media career until he took his current position with Meridian at Whiteley. His wife is from Romsey so it was something of a homecoming for the family and Matt revealed that he now lives in Clanfield and can almost see his home from the Bat & Ball – which is of course partly in Clanfield and partly Hambledon. Among his previous visits to the ground he shared one photo of his father at the famous stone of 1908.
As usual, the club in thanking Matt for an excellent presentation, gave him one of the club’s ties and two days later he was wearing it to present Meridian Tonight on ITV – a first for our club we believe.
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