FROM WEST YORKSHIRE TO WALES
Profile of Matthew Wood
by Chris Knowles

Matthew Wood, having grown up in Emley and played for the cricket club for many years, has enjoyed huge success at county level with Yorkshire, been selected for the National Academy and is currently preparing for the 2008 season with his new side, Glamorgan CCC.

A right-hand batsman by trade, and having clocked up over 6,800 career runs, Wood has been a useful off-break bowler and has also taken 113 catches during his career.

Wood made his first-class debut for Yorkshire in 1997 and quickly built on that achievement the following year with his List A debut. This period of the ‘90s was one which saw Wood enjoy one particularly successful season (1998), his first full summer, scoring 1,000 runs and securing his place in the Yorkshire set-up. After being named as opening batsman, Wood flourished in the club’s championship-winning team of 2000, smashing four centuries in the process.

He was eventually selected for the National Academy in 2001 after showing huge potential as a youngster and turning out for England under-19s. He was rewarded with two separate tours of Australia.

In 2003, Wood was voted Yorkshire’s Player of the Year and Players’ Player of the Year following a fine season-long display, notching up 1,423 runs in the Championship. He also stepped in as First XI captain on several occasions during the 2003 and 2004 seasons. He was unfortunate to miss out on an England recall while in this form.

Following this success, the former Emley man was a key player in Yorkshire’s promotion-winning side of 2005, ever present throughout the year as the team cemented their place back in the First Division.

2006 saw a downturn in luck for Wood. He only played a total of six times for the First XI and finished the year with less than 200 runs – in stark contrast to the previous few seasons. Failure to secure a place in the first team in 2007 meant that Wood, although Second XI captain that year, was released by the club at the end of the season.

On the eve of the 2008 season, Wood is surely relishing the opportunity to return to regular action at county level, having signed for Glamorgan CCC in October 2007. He can also be sure of the Emley players’ best wishes for success at Cardiff’s SWALEC Stadium.
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