Where are they now? Former Black Caps batter Matt Horne on helmets, his Lord’s ton, and creating history against England

Sunday, 5 July 2026

Matt Horne will always be remembered for his plucky test ton against England at Lord’s in 1999, which helped New Zealand get back into the series.

Horne and his team-mates would go on to win the decisive fourth test at The Oval to claim a memorable 2-1 series win – just the second time they had beaten England away in a test series.

The top order batter played 35 tests and 50 ODIs between 1997-2003, scoring four test centuries.

Outside his Lord’s innings, his finest international knock came against Australia in Hobart in 1997, hitting 133, opening alongside Bryan Young in a match New Zealand drew. He scored two other test centuries, both against Zimbabwe, including a career-best 157 at Eden Park in 1998.

The 55-year-old speaks to Brendon Egan in this week’s ‘Where are they now?’.

What keeps you busy these days?

I’m based in Auckland and I’m working in logistics for Woods Glass and I’m enjoying it, something new. I’ve been there a year. It’s quite fast-paced and there’s plenty going on and I’m learning a lot, so I’m enjoying it.

When was your last game of social cricket?

I tried to play a club season when I was 50 for Papamoa in Tauranga and I wasn’t overly successful. Whilst the mind knew what to do, I just didn’t have the fight in me to drive myself through it. It was pretty much get on with it, or you should be somewhere else. In the field I was great for about 30 overs, then the legs would go and those terribly hot February days were killers. Then it would hurt all week.

What do you remember most about your century at Lord’s against England in 1999?

I think for me, I was lucky enough to bat about nine hours at Canterbury against Kent [in a tour match], so I was in a space where I’d been in the middle. Let’s be honest, in that series without doubt the bowlers won us that series. [Chris] Cairns and [Dion] Nash were just relentless. The wicket was a goodish wicket, but it had enough in it and it was just really about occupying the crease and just being old school and making sure we could get partnerships going. I was trying to bat for as long as I could to enable us to be able to have as much rest as we could [for the bowlers].

A place like England, due to overcast conditions, you can lose a game in a session. We were kind of lucky because the sun came out and it got better. I played a couple of short ones poorly and got hit and couldn’t use my left arm for a period. I just dropped anchor, but I think it really helped because the English bowlers went after me and there was enough in the wicket, where if they had of stayed hitting a heavy length, sooner or later I would have nicked one. I was lucky.

What does it mean all these years on to be on the Lord’s honours board?

It’s a place like no other. The experience of going there. The whole feel of the ground. The history. It’s all talked about, but it is very unique. I was just lucky enough to play there and I got to play there once and it happened to be my day. It was interesting. You look down the list of guys that were lucky enough to score a hundred and they’re world-class players and I think I was probably second worst behind [India’s] Ajit Agarkar, who managed to get 100 there throwing the bat at the ball. It was quite humbling really in that context.

How did you knock over England in the winner-takes-all fourth test at The Oval in ‘99?

It was interesting going into the last test because we’d played down at Essex in a four-day game and we didn’t play well, we got beaten. It was probably the end of a long tour where we’d played the [ODI] World Cup, then we had the four test match series and it was the last shot at the O.K. Corral. The Oval itself, it’s an awe-inspiring place. It’s interesting because it was a dog of a wicket. It was slow and there wasn’t a lot of carry. It didn’t make for great cricket.

We just managed to out-bat them enough again, but the bowlers were outstanding. Cairns, Nash, Daniel Vettori, and [Shayne] O’Connor, to set up that victory. It was super-charged on the bus on the last morning because England had got themselves in a reasonable place, but we knew it was all on these next three hours. Once we broke through, I think they lost [8-39] in the second innings. At the time it seemed closer. It was pretty surreal. To win a test series in England for a New Zealand team without [Sir Richard] Hadlee was phenomenal and it was incredibly special.

How did the boys celebrate that achievement?

The Walkabout [pub]. From memory that was a pretty full-on night. I do recall due to the fact we finished early, I do remember the changing room. There was a lot of beverages. I think at the time it was still the Foster’s Oval, so they had a hand in that. We were staying at Kensington, Hyde Park, the hotel next to the park there and I do recall the bus. It was quite a comical procession of players trying to get across the road to the hotel. There was several that were helped.

What has it meant as a ‘99er seeing the Black Caps win another test series away against England?

We’ve got a ‘99ers WhatsApp group and these guys are just full of admiration really. That test series win and the way they came back after that first test just showed so much fortitude. There’s no games in between to go away and try and hone anything. It’s all on the line from ball one. You either turn up or you don’t. What impressed me greatly was the way Kane [Williamson] stepped aside, one of our greatest ever, and [Henry] Nicholls steps up, makes a statement, sets up the game [in the second test]. [Glenn] Phillips was phenomenal. The bowlers bowled well as a unit, then [Matt] Henry had a heyday. That’s a win from nowhere.

Then, going to Nottingham and they did everything right. Won the toss, the openers made sure we were in a position of ascendancy and in the end really, totally out-patienced and out-thought England, managed big moments, and guys stepped up in that series. You had five 100s and England scored one. That was a very young bowling attack that came in for that last test.

Why did you bat without a visor for most of your career?

I didn’t like something in front of my face and I found them quite heavy. It wasn’t until we went to England in 1999 and I was still wearing the temple guards and we played in the World Cup and they provided Masuri helmets. Every team got their own coloured helmet. I tried it and it was a lot lighter. I really didn’t start wearing a visor until I found a helmet that worked and I think I was definitely a better player of the short ball before I wore the visor. I think all of a sudden you know there is protection there, so whether you trust your intuitive instinct as well I don’t know. Up until then I just felt a lot more confident wearing temple guards. I wasn’t a big hooker or puller of the ball at that level. Taking away the top edge into the face, I’d back myself to go under the ball or sway really.

You were known for your high backlift when batting. Was that always part of your game from your early days?

Probably in the younger days, it was far more bottom hand dominant. It’s a shame it didn’t transition into more power. There’s no doubt my style of game changed as I developed. I was probably more balanced as a front and back foot player growing up, but I kind of adjusted my game more around batting time and survival, as opposed to expanding it. Technically, I thought I sold myself a bit short actually. I think I could have possibly developed a couple more scoring options. I found it allowed me to be pretty prolific at first-class level, but stepping up again [to international cricket] it hindered me a little bit.

How proudly do you reflect on your achievements for New Zealand?

I got to play at the highest level against some of the greats. I would have liked to have contributed more often. It was a fantastic time to be playing international cricket and get that opportunity. It’s a different game now. I look back on it fondly. It seems a long time ago now.

What enabled you to score a first test century against a quality Australian attack in Hobart in 1997?

Probably resilience and fortitude. I’d had a terrible tour and didn’t play in the first two tests. We’d been bullied. We went to Bellerive [Oval] and I wasn’t going to play. The day before the game Blair Pocock got hit on the toe. He came down to the team room and the physio said he’s broken his toe, he can’t play. They said, ‘Right Horney, you’re playing and you’re opening’. I’d never opened in test cricket. I had clarity that day of how I wanted to go about it. That’s probably I think my best innings around execution, planning, winning moments. It’s actually a test we probably should have won.

I remember being on that tour and going out to bat and you look around and you had [Ian] Healy there, [Mark] Taylor, both Waughs, [Ricky] Ponting. You had [Shane] Warne as well and you’d go, ‘Wow’, two of their players had played more tests than our entire squad. It was very much little brother versus big brother.

Which international bowlers did you find the toughest to face?

The hardest bowler without doubt for me was [Muttiah] Muralitharan. He was a freak in terms of what he could do. He broke the mould where he released from. The pace he bowled at, the revs he had on the ball either way. If you got into a position of ascendancy they just went in the outfield and waited for you to die in the hole. You’d get one [run] if you played a good shot, so it was always damage control. They were always attacking.

The best pace bowler I played against was probably Wasim Akram. His ability to make the ball talk at pace, just the full arsenal in that regard. [Glenn] McGrath was just relentless and Warne, I quite liked facing Warney because I felt I could plan defensive screens against him and knew how I could score. I didn’t feel as threatened that he was going to get me out, whereas Murali, I felt constantly I was going to get out at any moment.

How critical was your move from Auckland to Otago to breaking into the Black Caps in 1997?

Otago offered me, bat at three for the year. I think also mentally deciding that was what I was doing and I was going in boots and all. The ironic thing was in the space of about five months I went from club cricket into the test team. I went to Otago, I’d been playing league cricket in Ireland, turned up in October down in Dunedin. I was playing test cricket in February. I think for me I was given an opportunity and I just wanted to grasp it with both hands. I just tried to get the best out of myself in that respect. It gave me far more focus.

You had a drama-filled test debut against England in Christchurch in 1997, scoring 42 in the first innings and breaking your hand. Can you laugh about it now?

[Darren] Gough hit me on the middle of the left hand, so he broke my hand. I didn’t know it was broken, I was batting away. We had a drinks break and the physio came out and I said this is quite sore. Then of course I couldn’t field because I was all bandaged up. In the second innings they knocked the top off and we were in trouble and I had to go in with Cairnsy and they had to put a needle in it. That was a situation where if I had hung around longer perhaps we could have extended the game and put them under more pressure.

It’s funny. I do remember too I got off the mark to a lifter that I nicked high over first slip for four down to the boundary. I turned up to that test and Lee Germon was captain and we’d had one practice. Adam [Parore] had been dropped out of the team, who had been batting three. Lee Germon did his groin, then he was out, and Adam came back in as keeper and Flem [Stephen Fleming] took over as captain and was captain from then on. That was a game where Vettori bowled forever into the foot holes and Michael Atherton got a very good hundred.