Maiden takes horse-drawn vehicle, heading off for match (8)
I believe the answer is:
marriage
'match' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'maiden takes horse-drawn vehicle heading off' is the wordplay.
'maiden' becomes 'm' (cricket abbreviation).
'takes' says to put letters next to each other.
'horse-drawn vehicle' becomes 'carriage' (I've seen this before).
'heading off' means to remove the first letter.
'carriage' with its first letter taken off is 'arriage'.
'm'+'arriage'='MARRIAGE'
'for' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for marriage that I've seen before include "Wedlock of alliance" , "The nuptial ceremony" , ""Till death do us part" arrangement" , "nuptials" , "Matrimony" .)