Matt Allin laying into the Barnstaple & Pilton bowling during a Festival game at Westward Ho!<br>credit: Contributed

BIDEFORD CC archivist Paul Argyle has been delving into the cricket career of Matt Allin, who died last month. What Paul discovered was a huge number of runs, but perhaps not all of them!

Paul Argyle, who has catalogued the remarkable career of Bideford's Matt AllinIT is virtually impossible to know what Matt’s  overall numbers are, that is from leagues, cup and friendly cricket as (for various reasons) not all of them are available. The club's archive is particularly fragmented with a lot of scorebooks having been ‘lost; in the period/era he played in. Fortunately what has survived is sufficient to create an estimated/predicted profile.

Matt, according to other sources at Westward Ho! made his debut in adult cricket in 1993. He would have been 14 years old. Having ‘retired’ in 2014, we can be confident he played continuously for more than 20 years. But for a one-year sojourn at North Devon in 2000, all Matt’s representative cricket was for Bideford CC.

Like all good batsmen he had periods of low scores but he was never completely out of Andy Daviestouch for any length of time because he had a knack of scoring vital runs at important times. An example of this would be the chanceless 124 not out against Filleigh at Westward Ho! in 2006 in the North Devon League after being suspended for half a season. Given that he had not faced a single delivery for three months it was one of his best-ever hundreds.

Another significant innings would have been the 91 not out taken off Barnstaple & Pilton in 2010 when the club were battling for their B Division survival. Not only did Matt’s runs give Bideford a chance of staying up – they were subsequently relegated on the final day of the season – but during that game he also became the club's leading all-time run scorer, passing Andy Davies’ previous mark. 

Matt played in both weekend competitions over a long period of time and was particularly prolific in in the North Devon League. His Sunday record places him in the competition’s top ten of their all-time run scorers. It is also believed he holds – according to all statistical archives and records – the record for most centuries with 18. 

Somewhat surprisingly, in comparison, Matt had a modest record on Saturdays with, at this time of writing and from memory ‘only’ five centuries in the DCL throughout his entire career. I can't find his final run aggregate for that competition but, again from memory, I would estimate it to be 'only' a few thousand.... possibly only 3,000 to 4,000.?

MATT ALLIN IN THE NORTH DEVON CRICKET LEAGUE
Matches Inn NO Runs Ave 100s 50s
248 235 9 8785 38.85 18 56

Matt’s three main individual achievements were in his run laden seasons of 2010 and 2011. The first two were in the former year when, in his 17th season at the club, he had by common agreement – up to then – with his colleagues & opponents alike his finest ever year with the bat finishing with a personal best of 2169 runs from all cricket at an average of nearly 50. In the process he broke two long established club records and out of a total of 53 innings scored five hundreds and achieved 14 other scores of 50 or more. His first record-breaking highlight was in a DCL derby game against Barnstaple & Pilton when he went past Andy Davies to become (according to all official and available records) the club's all-time leading run scorer. 

HEAD TO HEAD: ALLIN v DAVIES
    Matches Inn NO Runs Ave 100s 50s
Matt Allin 1993-2014 545 531 79 19640 43.35 30 114
Andy Davies 1958-2004 887 811 203 12545 20.63 3 40

Matt’s consistently fine form continued throughout the rest of the summer, including a run of six matches that saw him score 453 runs – 123 not out, 70 not out 69 not out 60, 9, and 122 – at an average of 113.25! His second milestone came after reaching 39 in a midweek friendly he broke the late Steve Elworthy's record to become only the second player in the club's history to score more than 2,000 runs in a calendar season.

HOW THEY COMPARE?
    Matches Inn NO Runs Ave 100s 50s
Matt Allin 2010 56 53 9 2169 49.29 5 14
Steve Elworthy 2002 45 45 15 2083 69.43 2 16

Not content with that record-breaking season, Matt improved on his previous best by more than 1,000 runs in 2011 when,  according to all informed and verifiable sources, he set the highest individual aggregate by any club batsman for more than 30 years. Only Brian Roe in 1980 scored more. 

MATT ALLIN IN 2011
Matches Inn Runs Ave HS 100s 50s
73 66 3181 67.88 152no 7 25

At the end of that season, and suffering from extreme fatigue, Matt indicated to me that he felt there wasn't much left for him to achieve and that he would probably retire after reaching 20,000 club runs. He did in fact play on for another two years but at a much-reduced tempo, intensity and with less impact. Matt Allin batting against Heathcoat in 2011

Matt finished his career in a 2nd XI fixture at Bradninch where, from witness accounts, he was so weak and in obvious poor health he could barely hit the ball off the square. I think Matt knew he was done in the end. He was the Alex Higgins of cricket.!

Where is Matt’s place in the pantheon of amateur club cricket? He had his detractors for sure, who thought he was too reckless too early in a lot of his innings. It is true he did get himself out cheaply on many occasions. But there is no doubt that, in the right mood and frame of mind, he was an extremely talented cricketer. When set Matt, was almost impossible to either bowl at or set a field to.  Like all very good players he had an exceptionally good eye for line and length. Anything loose was ruthlessly punished.

He certainly hit the ball harder than most other batsmen. I only played with him a few times – I joined the club too late to see him develop into a fine wicketkeeper batsman – but the ones I was involved in confirmed that he was exceptionally good to watch.

Throughout my playing career, and more latterly as an umpire with the ‘best seat in the house’ I don't think I've seen a better, l more attacking and entertaining opening batsman anywhere.

Sadly, Matt didn't quite achieve his ambition of 20,000 club runs. In bald statistics alone James Ford has now surpassed him as Bideford's leading all time run scorer. But innings for innings, run for run, boundary to boundary and certainly for most 100s and 50s, Matt has gone down as one of the best players the club has ever produced. He'll be missed but definitely not forgotten.