New Chapter for Riki Wessels

 

Third former first class player joins Aussie umpire pathway 

PTG Editor.
Tuesday, 19 September 2023.
PTG 4294-20953.

Maroochydore-born Mattheus “Riki” Wessels, who played 224 games of first class cricket across three separate national domestic competitions, 179 List A matches in four, and 237 T20 fixtures in seven, over 17 years from 2004-21, has become the third former first class player, after Michael Claydon and Peter George (PTG 4238-20721,5 July 2023), to join Cricket Australia’s (CA) current umpire pathway. Wessels, 37, has been selected as a member of Queensland’s State Umpire Panel (QSUP) for 2023-24, alongside Joshua Adie, Ben Farrell, Nathan James, Tom Logan and Michael Mellifont, all of whom were on the panel in 2022-23 (PTG 3988-19613, 4 September 2022).

The son of former Australian and South African Test player Kepler, who has been a match referee with CA for the past five years (PTG 2487-12571, 18 June 2018), Wessels junior’s nearly two decade long professional playing career ended in England in 2022. He is understood to have stood in Queensland Cricket’s Premier League (QCPL) competition in the general Brisbane region during the 2022-23 season, his performance (and most likely playing background), obviously being judged worthy of a rapid elevation to the QSUP. What, if any, his umpiring experience is beyond the QCPL is not known.

Wessels junior was, like his father, a full-time professional cricketer for nearly two decades, a fact no better illustrated than by briefly listing the main details of his somewhat remarkable career. At first class level he played in England for Northamptonshire from 2005-2009, Nottinghamshire 2011-2018 and Worcestershire 2019-2021, Sri Lanka’s Nondescripts Cricket Club in 2007-08, and Mid West Rhinos in Zimbabwe in 2009-10 and again in 2011-12. His List A games were with those clubs plus Abahani Limited in Bangladesh in 2013-14), while his T20 career was even more widespread. It involved games with: the aforementioned clubs; CA’s Big Bash League (Sydney Sixers 2014-15); Bangladesh Premier League (Khulna 2012-13 and 2016/17; Pakistan Super League (Karachi 2015-16, Peshawar 2017-18 and Lahore 2018/19; plus the Afghanistan Premier League (Kandahar in 2018-19).

Between them Wessels, Claydon and George (PTG 4111-20150, 25 January 2023), played 401 first class, 353 List A and 421 T20 games during their careers. The latter pair were selected by CA for a range of representative matches during the 2022-23 southern summer, and all three feature in early season CA appointments lists for the coming 2023-24 season. Claydon and George will start their CA seasons in Sydney and Adelaide respectively on Friday in women’s List A Women’s National Cricket League (WNCL) fixtures, while Wessels will have to wait three more weeks for his debut, which will occur in Brisbane.