Matthew Elliott: 15 facts about the former Australia opener

Born September 28, 1971, Matthew Thomas Gray Elliott is a former Australian opener who represented his country in 21 Tests and a solitary One-Day International (ODI).

Born September 28, 1971, Matthew Thomas Gray Elliott is a former Australian opener who represented his country in 21 Tests and a solitary One-Day International (ODI). Known for his solid technique, Elliott has a fantastic First-Class record. It’s a pity he couldn’t play for Australia for a longer period. Chinmay Jawalekar looks at 15 interesting things to know about the southpaw from Victoria, who many feel was a gifted player, but ended his career as an underachiever.

1.  Beginnings

Elliott debuted for Victoria in the 1992–1993 season, which was a poor one for his side as Victoria finished last in the Sheffield Shield. Though he didn’t quite set the stage on fire, but his 191 runs from four matches showed promise. Gradually, he established a reputation of being one of the top opening batsmen in Australian domestic cricket.

2.  First call for national duty

A series of consistent performances for Victoria resulted in Elliott’s maiden call-up to the Australian national team in the 1996–1997 season. He made his Test debut against the West Indies in November 1996, scoring a duck in his first innings and 21 in the second.

3.  Shares debut with Michael Kasprowicz

Elliott shared his debut with pacer Michael Kasprowicz, who went on to represent Australia in 38 Tests, 43 ODIs and 2 T20 Internationals (T20Is) and was also known as Australia’s subcontinent-specialist.

4.  Freak injury

Elliott justified his selection by scoring 29 and 78 in just his second Test. However, a mid-pitch collision with fellow teammate Mark Waugh forced him to retire hurt and resulted in a knee surgery.

5.  Return

The injury kept Elliott out of the Australian team for a year. He returned in style with a fluent 85 against South Africa at Johannesburg.

6.  Ashes 1997

Elliott was the star of the Ashes series of 1997, which was also his first and the last one. He ended the series as the highest run getter with 556 runs from six matches at a healthy average of 55.60. He scored two hundreds and two half-centuries in the series, including his career best score of 199, which put him on the list of 10 unfortunate cricketers to miss a double ton by a whisker. Australia won the closely fought series 3-2.

7.  Only ODI

Earlier that year, he played his only ODI for Australia against England, scoring just a single run and resulting in his sacking from the format for good.

8.  Recognition

Elliott was one of the five ‘Wisden Cricketers of the Year’ in the year 1998, a recognition that couldn’t do any good to his career as his inconsistent performances after the successful Ashes resulted in fewer appearances for Australia.

9.  Temperamentally flawed 

One of the most successful captains and an all-time legend, Steve Waugh had mentioned Elliott in his autobiography, described him as “technically gifted but temperamentally flawed” and “prone to serious bouts of self-doubt and a tendency to let injuries rule his thought processes.” Waugh also stated that “Elliott would have been a perfect candidate for a sports psychologist.”

10.  Domestic heavyweight 

Despite being sidelined by the national selectors, Elliott continued to score heavily at domestic level for Victoria. The 2003–2004 season was a watershed one for him as he scored 1381 runs in the Pura Cup, overtaking Graham Yallop’s previous record (which was broken the very next year in 2004-05 by Michael Bevan).

11.  Reward

 His tremendous performance was rewarded with the ‘Pura Cup Player of the Year Award’ and a new Cricket Australia contract. He also got an unexpected recall to the national team after a gap of almost 5 years. But the outing became his final one, as he scored just 0 and 1 at the unfamiliar position of number three in the Test against Sri Lanka.

12.  Move to South Australia

After spending 12 seasons with Victoria, Elliott moved to South Australia as a player-coach at the end of 2004-05 season, but not before winning a grievance tribunal appeal. His move down south didn’t bear much fruits as he struggled to score runs in the longer format. His one-day form, however, was terrific as he scored 465 from 10 appearances at 51.66, including two centuries. The performance earned him the’ Ford Ranger Cup Player of the Year’ award.

13.  English County

Elliott also played for the English county sides Yorkshire and Glamorgan during his career. Both his assignments were on a short-term basis in the year 2007, where he was brought in as a cover for overseas players Younis Khan and his country mate Jimmy Maher respectively.

14.  Retirement and ICL

Elliott announced his retirement from First-Class cricket in February 2008. His announcement was immediately followed by his signing for the Indian Cricket League (ICL), where he represented Chandigarh Lions. Elliott’s First-Class career was outstanding, as he finished with more than 17,000 runs and 50 hundreds at an impressive average of 47.

15.  Life beyond cricket

 Post quitting the game completely, Elliott has been involved in a number of diverse activities. He has been an active participant in Ned Kelly inspired recreations, has worked as a bartender at Bridge Road Brewery and has recently participated in a 63-over tribute match in the memory of late Australian cricketer Phil Hughes. The match was organised by Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN) in April 2015, where both the teams played a single innings of 31.3 overs each, marking the number 63. Turning out for Team Red, Elliott scored 12 runs and picked up 3 wickets, thus securing his team’s win by a run and getting the man of the match award.

(A self-confessed cricket freak, Chinmay Jawalekar is senior content writer with Criclife. When not writing or following cricket, he loves to read, eat and sleep. He can be followed at @CricfreakTweets)

• 
• 
•