Australia · Batting all-rounder

Matthew Short Stats, Records and 2026 Teams

Matthew Short, also known as Matt Short, is an Australian opening batter and right-arm off-spin all-rounder from Ballarat. Born on 8 November 1995, he was 30 on 24 August 2026. He has played 23 ODIs and 24 T20Is for Australia, won consecutive Big Bash player-of-the-tournament awards, captained Adelaide Strikers and San Francisco Unicorns, and represented Chennai Super Kings and Welsh Fire in 2026.

By StumpScope Cricket Desk · Edited by StumpScope Editorial Team

Right-hand batterRight-arm off spin bowlerBorn 8 November 1995

Current squadSan Francisco UnicornsMajor League Cricket · 2026

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Full nameMatthew William Short

Age30As of 24 August 2026

Date of birth8 November 1995Ballarat, Victoria, Australia

Batting styleRight-hand batter

Bowling styleRight-arm off spin

Career overview

Matthew Short cricket career

Matthew William Short was born in Ballarat, Victoria, on 8 November 1995 and was 30 on 24 August 2026.

He is a right-handed opening batter and right-arm off-spinner whose established role is batting all-rounder.

Cricket Australia's current snapshot lists 23 ODIs and 24 T20Is, with 462 ODI runs and 416 T20I runs.

He won the Big Bash League player-of-the-tournament award in BBL|12 and BBL|13 and became Adelaide Strikers captain.

He captained San Francisco Unicorns in MLC 2026 and led their completed tables with 513 runs and 17 wickets.

He played three matches for Chennai Super Kings in IPL 2026, then completed seven Hundred innings for Welsh Fire before a future Pretoria Capitals commitment.

Career story

Matthew Short career and playing journey

Who is Matthew Short?

Matthew Short is an Australian batting all-rounder who normally opens the innings and supplies right-arm off spin. Cricket Australia's official record uses the familiar name Matt Short and gives his full name as Matt William Short, while the IPL directory uses Matthew William Short. Both refer to the same player born in Ballarat on 8 November 1995.

The short and full-name forms appear across databases and team announcements. His MLC, BBL, IPL and Hundred totals belong to separate competitions and seasons, so they cannot be combined into a single franchise aggregate.

Matthew Short age, birthplace and playing role

Short was born on 8 November 1995 in Ballarat, Victoria, and was 30 on the checked date. Cricket Australia lists him at 187 centimetres, batting right-handed and bowling right-arm off spin. Height is useful identification context but does not define his role. His strongest repeated value has come from opening the batting, attacking during the powerplay and then offering match-up overs when a captain wants off spin against left-handed batters.

The label batting all-rounder is more accurate than calling Short only a batter or a frontline specialist spinner. His bowling workload changes by competition: in MLC 2026 it became central enough for him to lead San Francisco's wicket column. Selection, batting position and overs can still vary with conditions and team balance, while the established record supports both parts of his role.

Under-19 World Cup and the Victoria pathway

Short represented Australia at the 2014 Under-19 World Cup and scored 237 runs. Cricket Australia presents that tournament as an important early marker before his Victoria debut at the start of the 2014-15 summer. He came through Northcote and Victorian cricket rather than arriving as an instant franchise specialist. The youth total belongs to the Under-19 event and is not added to his senior List A or first-class career figures.

His domestic pathway also included a period with the Cricket Australia XI, where he was vice-captain during the 2016 One-Day Cup. That experience gave him senior one-day cricket and leadership exposure while he was still trying to establish a permanent Victoria role. The route was gradual: age-group success, state selection, development-team responsibility and then a longer wait for consistent high-level output. That context makes the later Big Bash breakthrough more meaningful than a simplified claim that he became a star immediately.

First-class breakthrough and the 134 not out against England

Short made his first-class debut for a Cricket Australia XI against New Zealand on 29 October 2015. His first first-class century arrived against England in November 2017, when he made an unbeaten 134 and also took four wickets in the match. The innings remains his first-class high score in the checked ESPN snapshot. It demonstrated that his ceiling was not limited to short powerplay innings and that his off spin could contribute in longer cricket.

The dated first-class snapshot lists 60 matches, 3,111 runs at an average of 34.95, four centuries and 20 fifties, plus 46 wickets. Those numbers represent a substantial domestic sample, but they do not establish a Test career because Short had not played Test cricket by 24 August 2026. A productive first-class record and an international red-ball cap are separate facts.

The 2022-23 Sheffield Shield all-round season

Short's 2022-23 Sheffield Shield season gave his red-ball record one of its clearest all-round peaks. Cricket Australia reports 623 runs and ten wickets, with the wickets coming at an average of 21.50. The batting volume showed he could build longer innings, while the bowling return gave Victoria a genuine second discipline rather than occasional overs used only to change pace.

That season overlapped with his Big Bash transformation and helped shift the public view of him from a talented player with uneven opportunities to a multi-format option. It would still be wrong to combine Shield, Big Bash and international numbers into a single rate. The formats impose different innings lengths, fields and tactical demands. The useful conclusion is that his breakthrough was not confined to one T20 tournament: he also produced a strong state season in first-class cricket.

Adelaide Strikers breakthrough and the record BBL chase

Short began his Big Bash career with Melbourne Renegades but found a sustained role after moving to Adelaide Strikers. Opening the batting full-time changed the shape of his opportunity. On 5 January 2023, during his first match as stand-in captain, he made 100 not out from 59 balls as Adelaide chased Hobart Hurricanes' 229. Cricket Australia reported it as the highest successful chase in BBL history at that time, completed with three balls remaining.

The innings was Short's maiden T20 century and a defining example of his powerplay-to-finish range. It should not be described as a solo achievement because a chase requires partnerships and a team result, but his unbeaten hundred was the central batting performance. The record also needs its time context: it was the league's biggest successful chase when completed. Later competitions can produce new records, so the page avoids presenting a historical mark as permanently unbeatable.

Back-to-back Big Bash player awards and captaincy

Short was named BBL player of the tournament for both BBL|12 and BBL|13. In the second of those campaigns he scored 541 runs from 11 matches at a strike rate of 153.26, won the Golden Bat and was selected as captain of the tournament team. Cricket Australia also notes that he opened both the batting and bowling in nine of the 11 matches, a clear illustration of how Adelaide used his two skills.

He became Adelaide's full-time captain and has described the role as an extra challenge that helped make him a more complete player. The current Cricket Australia career table lists 95 BBL matches, 2,466 runs at 29.01 with a strike rate of 141.89, two hundreds and 17 fifties. It also lists 38 wickets with best figures of 3 for 14. Those are career competition totals, not only his captaincy years.

Australia T20I debut, 66 and the five-wicket spell

Short made his T20I debut against South Africa at Durban on 30 August 2023. ESPN's debut report and scorecard establish the match and selection. His checked Cricket Australia batting line lists 24 T20Is, 416 runs, a high score of 66, an average of 20.80 and a strike rate of 150.18. The strike rate reflects his attacking role, while the average and match count show that the international sample remains much smaller than his BBL career.

Short's international bowling record includes 5 for 22 against England in Cardiff in September 2024, an unusual five-wicket T20I return for a player selected primarily for batting. Cricket Australia's career table contains an inconsistent best-bowling display, so the match report and scorecard support the 5 for 22. The spell strengthens his all-round case without implying that he bowls a full allocation in every T20I.

ODI debut, Champions Trophy role and current record

Short made his ODI debut against India at Mohali on 22 September 2023. Cricket Australia's checked table lists 23 matches and 21 innings, 462 runs, four fifties, a high score of 74 and an average of 22.00. With the ball it lists six wickets and best figures of 3 for 36. These are dated totals through the current official player snapshot, not projected numbers or a mix of separate providers.

He opened for Australia during the 2025 Champions Trophy and made 63 against England in the opening game. A quad injury suffered later in the group stage ruled him out of the semi-final, so availability affected the end of that campaign. The injury belongs to that tournament timeline and should not be turned into a current medical diagnosis. By 2026 he had returned to international and franchise cricket, but future selection still depends on fitness, form and team balance.

Punjab Kings in 2023 and Chennai Super Kings in IPL 2026

Punjab Kings signed Short as an injury replacement for Jonny Bairstow in IPL 2023. The official IPL announcement documents the replacement, while the 2026 auction list records six previous IPL appearances. Those Punjab matches remain separate from his later Chennai season.

Chennai Super Kings bought Short at his ₹1.50 crore base price for IPL 2026. Cricket Australia records that he played three matches for Chennai before joining Australia's Pakistan ODI squad, while the official IPL directory lists nine career appearances after the season. The contract value describes the auction purchase, not his match output.

San Francisco captaincy and the MLC 2026 all-round record

Short captained San Francisco Unicorns to first place in the ten-match MLC 2026 league phase before two seven-run playoff defeats ended their campaign in the Challenger. The official club squad and retention announcement identify him as captain. Completed competition tables list 513 runs from 12 innings at an average of 64.12 and a strike rate of 146.15, with a high score of 121. They also list 17 wickets at an average of 13.12 from 30 overs.

Those totals made Short San Francisco's leading run-scorer and wicket-taker in the completed season. His playoff sequence included 94 not out against Los Angeles Knight Riders and a T20 career-best 121 not out from 56 balls against Washington Freedom. Both innings came in seven-run defeats, so they were major individual performances rather than winning knocks.

Welsh Fire's completed Hundred season and Pretoria Capitals

Welsh Fire selected Short for £75,000 at The Hundred's 2026 auction. He completed seven batting innings with scores of 20, 8, 36, 60 not out, 71, 43 and 0, totalling 238 runs at an average of 39.67 and a strike rate of 140.00. The completed total replaces the partial 9 August aggregate and keeps his Hundred record separate from MLC and IPL figures.

Pretoria Capitals later confirmed Short for SA20 Season 5. Cricket Australia reported that his no-objection certificate would take effect only after Adelaide Strikers' BBL|16 duties ended, so the signing did not remove him from the full Big Bash season. The Pretoria commitment is a later squad arrangement, not part of his completed 2026 MLC or Hundred statistics.

Victoria contract decision and Adelaide Strikers future

Short opted not to take a Victoria state contract for 2026-27 after he was not offered a Cricket Australia national deal. Cricket Australia's report describes him and Glenn Maxwell moving to freelance arrangements while remaining available under selection and match-payment rules. That decision is not a retirement from state cricket and should not be framed as a dispute unless a direct source supplies that characterization.

He remains contracted to Adelaide Strikers through BBL|16 and is expected to complete Big Bash duties before joining Pretoria Capitals. The arrangement reflects how an established white-ball player can balance domestic leagues with possible international selection. It does not reveal every payment in his calendar. Published auction amounts can be reported, but retainers, bonuses, match fees, sponsorships, taxes and private commercial terms should not be estimated from squad lists.

How to read Matthew Short's published contract values

The two public figures used here belong to specific competitions: Chennai's ₹1.50 crore IPL 2026 auction purchase and Welsh Fire's £75,000 Hundred contract band. They should be read alongside the relevant season and team, not added to batting or bowling results.

Auction prices do not reveal take-home pay. Taxes, match fees, bonuses, endorsements and private commercial terms are outside these published competition values, so no broader personal-finance estimate is inferred from them.

Matthew Short records

Matthew Short career statistics and records

Batting, bowling and fielding figures are kept separate by competition and format.

One Day Internationals through 24 August 202623matches