Matthew Short

Matt Short's career was turbo-charged when he was elevated to open for the Adelaide Strikers for the 2021-22 BBL season, having previously struggled to find a consistent home for either Strikers or his previous club, Melbourne Renegades.

Since then he has become one of the most dominant performers in the league and earned Australia honours. In early 2023, he scored his maiden T20 hundred in a record BBL run chase of 230 against Hobart Hurricanes and was later named Player of the Tournament. A few months later he earned a maiden IPL deal with Punjab Kings as an injury replacement for Jonny Bairstow. The next year, Short picked up his second consecutive player-of-the-tournament honours in the BBL, comfortably leading the charts with 541 runs - nearly 200 clear of the next-best.

Short made his Australia T20I debut against South Africa in Durban in August 2023 and scored 66 off 30 balls in his second outing. An ODI debut came the following month but it was in 2024 that he found a more regular place in the side, and was part of the 2025 Champions Trophy squad, where he scored a maiden ODI fifty in a win against England.

Short has also had his moments in red-ball cricket. His maiden first-class century came for a CA XI against England in 2017-18 when he and Jason Sangha added 263 in Townsville. He had a particularly prolific domestic season in 2022-23 when he scored over 600 runs for Victoria, and was in contention for a Test spot. But after starting the following season with a century, he made three ducks in his next four innings, and since then his white-ball commitments and a run of injuries have limited his opportunities.