MATTHEWS, MR. THOMAS GADD, probably the last survivor of that famous band of amateurs - WG Grace, EM Grace, GF Grace, JA Bush, WO Moberley, Frank Townsend, RF Miles, WR Gilbert, FG Monkland and CR Filgate - who gained the Championship for Gloucestershire twice during the first seven years of the existence of that county club, was born on December 9, 1845, and died on January 6, at the ago of 86. He first played for Gloucestershire in 1870, and a year later, making 201 against Surrey on the Clifton College Ground, enjoyed the distinction of being the first player to put together a score of over two hundred in county cricket. Like many of his contemporaries, Mr. Matthews excelled in the big square leg hit over the ring--a stroke so rarely attempted in these days. In what may perhaps be described as his finest display of batting--an innings of 76 against Yorkshire--he hit Allen Hill, a very fast bowler, high over the square-leg boundary and right out of the ground. He was eventually stumped off Hill by George Pinder who, on the the dangerous wickets of those times, used to stand close up to the fastest of bowling and on one occasion stumped A. W. Ridley of a leg-shooter from Hill. Mr. Matthews made his last appearance for Gloucestershire in a match against Surrey at the Oval in 1878. Until over eighty he hunted regularly with the Badminton and the Berkeley Hounds.
Wisden Cricketers' Almanack