With thanks to Paul Bolton @ NCCA
Matt Thompson hopes that an extra date will be added to his farewell tour as he prepares for retirement from National Counties cricket.
The Devon batter/wicketkeeper announced before the start of the summer that this would be his 16th and final season of county cricket and he will make his 69th and last scheduled appearance for them in the NCCA Cluberly Championship match against Oxfordshire which starts at Sidmouth on Sunday.
But with Devon currently top of Western Division One there could be the opportunity for Thompson to make his farewell in the Championship final against the Eastern Division champions at West Bromwich Dartmouth from September 7 to 10.
“I’m hoping that this weekend won’t be my last appearance with a potential Championship final up for grabs. Ourselves Oxfordshire or Herefordshire could win it so I suppose you have got to, for now, approach it as though it is my last game,” Thompson.
“I have to approach this weekend as though it will be my last and see where we go.
“It means a lot, of course it does. National Counties and Minor Counties cricket has been a big chunk of my life for 15 years. I think I’ve only missed two games in that time for a wedding and job interview a long time ago.
“I’ve been lucky not to have picked up anything injury-wise. So, it will be a bit strange and a bit surreal really. But it would be nice to get over the line and get the job done and then round it off with a good performance in the final.”
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Sidmouth will be a fitting venue for Thompson to play his last home match for Devon as it was there that he made a century in each innings against Oxfordshire in 2013.
“I think I’ve been through everything at Sidmouth. I got my first only pair for Devon there, I somehow managed to cobble two hundreds in a game together there some time and we have had some cracking games there over the years,” he said.
“It’s probably the ground that you look forward to playing at most, certainly for a home game, so I’m looking forward to it.”
Thompson made his Devon debut against Cornwall at Torquay in June 2010 and became the county’s youngest-ever century-maker at 18 years and 206 days in his next match against Herefordshire at Eastnor. He made another century at Eastnor last week in his most recent Championship match and added a half-century in the second innings to take his season’s aggregate to 300 in six innings.
“When people ask me why I said I was retiring I have been floundering a little so I have to take myself back a little,” he said.
“You get to a point where, selfishly, your enjoyment is linked to how well you can contribute to the team. For the 12 months before this year I was questioning whether I was able to do that as I used to do.
“Towards the back end of last season it just felt it was the right time to bring it to a close.”
Whatever happens at Sidmouth, Thompson already has a winner’s medal from the Championship in 2011 and the National Counties Trophy in 2014 but sharing a dressing room with players who have progressed from Devon into first-class or international cricket will be among the treasured memories when he reflects on his career.
“There are plenty of games that stand out. Probably the best quality game I have been involved in was a Trophy semi-final against Cheshire. We scored about 360 and they got 230-odd. That felt like a professional game of cricket. It was a really high standard,” he said.
“The Championship final in my second season was obviously a good one and we have been lucky in Devon to see a lot of lads go on to bigger and better things – Lewis Gregory, the Overton twins, Dom Bess, Tom Lammonby, Ben Green. Seeing those lads come through and then go on has been cool to be a part of.
“We’ve also had – and this is meant as compliment – lads who were run-of-the-mill club cricketers who, over time, have turned themselves into really quality National Counties players. That’s been pleasing to be involved in.
“On a slightly personal note Chris Read was my idol growing up as a batter/wicketkeeper and coming from the Torquay/Paignton area the same as me. He came back and played a couple of three-dayers for us in 2017 when he was looking for some red ball practice and I managed to spend a bit of time in the middle of him. I think we put on 100 for the third wicket against Berkshire at Exeter. That was pretty special to me.”
Although Thompson’s playing career is coming to an end he will not be lost to National Counties cricket. In his day job he works as Head of Talent Pathway for Cricket Wales and is also Director of Cricket of Wales NC.
There are very few Welsh-born Glamorgan players who have not had their first experience of senior county cricket playing for Wales with slow left-armer Romano Franco, who recently signed a short-term contract with the first-class county, the latest to make the transition.
“I have tried to separate personal cricket and the day job for as long as I can remember and, touchwood, I’ve managed to do that reasonably well,” Thompson said.
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