Barrie Matthews only had one senior cricket club, and that was the Torquay C.C. who he played for, at the age of 15, from 1959. Ten years later he became their youngest ever captain, but reluctantly gave this honour up to become Devon's youngest captain in 1973. He remained the county skipper for 12 seasons until retiring in 1984. During this period he led Devon to win the Minor County Championship in 1978, for the first time in their history. Barrie continued playing club cricket for Torquay into the nineties and during this decade also played regularly for Devon's over 50's in the National competition. After forty years in the various Matthews families licenced businesses in Torbay, Barrie and his wife Liz retired to Spain in 2004. A few years later he was talked into playing again (at the age of 67) for Spain in an over-60's International Cricket Festival, which was held at the prestigious La Manga Club.