Matt Henderson (cricketer)
Matthew Henderson was a New Zealand cricketer who played for Wellington from 1922 to 1932 and played in New Zealand's first-ever Test match in January 1930.Henderson was a left-arm fast-medium bowler and tail-end batsman who made his first-class debut for Wellington in 1921-22, taking 5 for 66 against Auckland in his second match. In the 1926-27 season he took 12 wickets in two matches at an average of 17.75, including 6 for 70 against Auckland.
He toured England with the 1927 team under Tom Lowry. No Tests were played on this tour. Henderson took 33 first-class wickets at 24.21, including 5 for 27 against the Civil Service and 5 for 76 against Leicestershire, but his bowling, according to Wisden, lacked direction.
Henderson's only Test appearance was the first Test ever played by New Zealand, against the England team led by Harold Gilligan at Christchurch in January 1930, when he was 34. He dismissed Eddie Dawson with his first delivery and later took the wicket of K. S. Duleepsinhji, the top scorer. But New Zealand lost in two days and he was replaced for the Second Test by his Wellington team-mate, the all-rounder Eddie McLeod.
Henderson never played Test cricket again, and dropped out of first-class cricket in 1932 after three more games for Wellington. In a long career in Wellington club cricket he took 333 wickets at 21.90.
Henderson died on June 17, 1970, in Lower Hutt, Wellington, aged 74.
