Matthew Nandu

Matthew Nandu (born 9 June 2003) is a Canada born Guyanese cricketer who also plays for the Guyana Amazon Warriors in the Caribbean Premier League. His father Arjune Nandu is also a first-class cricketer who went onto appear in four first-class matches for the Guyana team. His playing style is often compared with former Guyanese batsman Shivnarine Chanderpaul.

Biography
He was born in Canada where he also spent majority of his childhood. He attended St. Luke Catholic Elementary School where he also plied his trade in various sports including volleyball, baseball, basketball and athletics. He also attended the St. David Catholic Secondary School, where he served as the captain of the school's basketball and volleyball teams. He pursued his higher studies, obtaining Bachelor of Arts in psychology at the Wilfrid Laurier University. He joined the Kaiteur Cricket Club and received his first taste of club cricket during his time in Canada. He began seriously pursuing an interest in cricket, mainly through his father and elder brother Marcus Nandu.

Career
He also played domestic cricket for Everest Cricket Club in Guyana's capital Georgetown. He was picked by Vancouver Knights in the players' draft for the 2019 Global T20 Canada. In December 2021, he was named in the West Indies squad for the 2022 ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup. He scored a century in the plate quarter-finals against Papua New Guinea at 2022 Under-19 Cricket World Cup and was awarded the player of the match. He was drafted by the Guyana Amazon Warriors team for the 2022 Caribbean Premier League and he did not play in any of the games during that season.

He made his first-class debut for Guyana against Barbados on 1 February 2023 during the 2022–23 West Indies Championship. He eventually scored a century on his first-class debut and reached his century off 295 deliveries. He also became the first batsman from Guyana to score a first-class hundred on debut since the turn of the century (Sudesh Dhaniram was the previous Guyanese batsman to have scored a first-class century on debut against Barbados in 1987).

He was named in Guyana Amazon Warriors squad for the inaugural edition of The 6ixty which was played in 2022. He scored a century playing for Kaiteur Cricket Club against Phoenix in the 2023 Brampton-Etobicoke and District Cricket League in Canada. He was retained by Guyana Amazon Warriors in the players' draft held ahead of the 2023 CPL season.

He made his T20 debut playing for the Guyana Amazon Warriors in a league stage match against Jamaica Tallawahs on 13 September 2023 during the 2023 Caribbean Premier League. He stitched a crucial match-winning century partnership, adding 112 runs for the first wicket along with Saim Ayub in his first CPL match while chasing a modest target of 153 runs, and he ended up scoring 37 runs off 35 deliveries to seal the deal for the Guyana Amazon Warriors.

He made his List A debut for West Indies Academy against Combined Campuses and Colleges on 19 October 2023 during the 2023–24 Super50 Cup. In November 2023, he was named in the West Indies Academy squad to face Emerging Ireland side in List A and first-class series.