Club Cricket Conference

Monday, 30th December 2024

Sussex cricket shocked by Matthew Hobden death

By Charles Randall

4 January 2016


The cause of the sudden death of the Preston Nomads CC and England seam-bowling prospect Matthew Hobden at the age of 22 while on holiday in Scotland has not yet been disclosed. He was due to visit the England tour of South Africa, and Alastair Cook's team wore black arm bands during the Test in Cape Town.

Hobden, a student at Cardiff Metropolitan University, impressed in all formats  for Sussex as a tall powerful bowler, making his debut in 2014, and he was due to join the England tour in February for coaching and experience with a group of ECB performance programme fast bowlers.

Born in Eastbourne and educated at Millfield School and Eastbourne College, he went on to Cardiff for a business studies course, making his first class debut in 2012 for the MCC universities side. While at Cardiff he appeared for Ynysygerwn CC in the South Wales Premier League in 2013, though most of his club cricket was with Preston Nomads.

Jeremy Green, the Preston Nomads captain, paid tribute in a BBC interview, saying the news of Hobden's death was "unbelievably hard to take". He said: "When he walked into a room, he lit it up. He was larger-than-life on and off the field. Our thoughts go out to Matt's family and close friends at this really tough time."

The Sussex county club said in a statement: ""Matthew was an exciting young cricketer with a big future ahead of him in the game. He was a fantastic individual who had progressed through Sussex's youth and academy ranks. He made his first class debut for Sussex in 2014 and had represented the county across all three formats over the past two seasons. He will be greatly missed.”