Wisden obituary
Mal Matheson played for New Zealand in the fourth Test at Auckland in 1929-30 and was a member of their side to England in 1931, playing his only other Test at Manchester, where play did not start until the last afternoon. That New Zealand side were fairly strong in batting, but their bowling was hopelessly weak and Matheson, though his 44 wickets cost 23.81 runs each, came third in the averages and narrowly missed being second. His best performance was in his first match, when he took four good Hampshire wickets for 49 and bowled the almost unbowlable Mead; but in a miserably wet and cold summer, and handicapped at times by a strained leg muscle, he did not live up to this promise. By the time the New Zealanders reached Canterbury in August he was reduced to the indignity, for a fast-medium bowler, of having seven men on the boundary for Woolley, who promptly cut him for 4 between slip and wicket keeper. Playing for Auckland from 1926-27 to 1939-40 and for Wellington from 1944-45 to 1946-47, he took altogether in first-class cricket 194 wickets at 28.52 and scored 1,844 runs with an average of 23.64. His highest score, and his only century, was 112 for Auckland against Canterbury in 1937-38. On the tour of England, when his usual place was last, he made 72 against Scotland at Glasgow. He had also been a first-class rugger player and in 1946 refereed the international between New Zealand and Australia at Auckland.
Wisden Cricketers' Almanack