While the allrounder is still processing being dropped for the T20 World Cup, Victoria’s coach believes he is in the frame for a Baggy Green
“Disappointed” allrounder Matthew Short can push for a Test spot over the coming weeks, says his state coach Chris Rogers, after the Victorian’s cruel eleventh-hour T20 World Cup axing.
Short has been relegated to domestic duties after being dropped from the Aussies’ 15-man squad on the eve of the tournament. The untried Matthew Renshaw, who only made his T20I debut last week, has come in instead as selectors plumped for a left-hander who can bat in the middle order with star man Tim David still recovering from a hamstring injury.
The 30-year-old Short has averaged 18 and held a strike-rate of 126 in 9 T20I innings since returning to international cricket in October after battling quad and side injuries through 2025. His returns with his off-spin have been spotty, taking two wickets in 10 overs at a high economy rate of 11.5.
Rogers said it was too soon for Short, who played all three matches of Australia’s recent T20I series against Pakistan in Lahore, to return for the ladder-leading Vics’ Sheffield Shield contest with Queensland beginning tomorrow at the MCG.
“We’ve been in contact. I’d say he’s disappointed naturally, and so he should be,” Rogers told reporters after Victoria’s One-Day Cup win over Queensland on Tuesday.
“We think it’ll probably take just a little bit of time to get through it. It would have been far too much to rush him back to play in this Shield game, especially when he’s been doing no red-ball prep anyway. So there was never really a discussion around that.
“But we’ll sit down and talk about that when he comes back. Hopefully he’ll make a big impact for Victoria and then the rest of the season.”
Short’s success in the KFC BBL over recent years has come at the top of the Adelaide Strikers’ order, while most of his white-ball opportunities for Australia have also come with him batting in the top three.
The right-hander was unlikely to be deployed there in the India and Sri Lanka-hosted World Cup however. Renshaw meanwhile had a solid Big Bash batting at four for the Brisbane Heat and has long been on selectors’ radar for his strong form in domestic white-ball cricket.
The emergence of another spinning allrounder in Cooper Connolly also played a part in Short, a travelling reserve for the 2024 T20 World Cup in the Caribbean, being squeezed out of Australia’s plans.
“I’d say as a coach, I think selection is almost the hardest thing you do,” said Rogers. “You make calls along the way and some may be right, some may be wrong, but you make it for a reason, and you know that the Australian selectors had their reason.
“Whether I agree with it, whether you agree with it, doesn’t really matter. It’s what their decision is. So we just have to accept them. Unfortunately, that’s the reality for Matt.”
Short’s long-term future with Victoria is a watch after he moved to the Gold Coast last year but Rogers is banking on the Ballarat product to bolster their Sheffield Shield campaign over the coming weeks after his side went into the BBL break top of the standings.
He has played just five first-class matches in the past 24 months due to his international white-ball ascension, but is averaging 50 in his past eight innings for Victoria against the red ball.
Batting in the middle-order as a Travis Head-like counter-attacker, Short had a breakthrough 2022-23 Shield campaign in which he hit 623 runs at 42. But his debuts in both white-ball formats for Australia in the ensuing months have since limited his first-class opportunities.
Short scored three half-centuries in four Shield innings for the Vics before Christmas and took a four-wicket haul against Western Australia in December.
Rogers believes that could have him in the Test frame if Australia continue to overlook specialist spinners, suggesting Short’s off-breaks are more threatening than those of incumbent allrounder Beau Webster, who also bowls medium pace.
“The other thing that’s happened this year is this idea of playing four quicks,” Rogers said of a selection trend that’s played out in four of the Aussies’ past six Tests.
“Now, if you’re going to play four quicks, you’ve got to have at least one batter who’s close to frontline spin. I know Webster did well, but I’d argue Shorty’s red-ball spin is even better.
“That’s my opinion, which he showed when he took four-for for Victoria in the second innings against Western Australia out here at the MCG. From that point of view, he could add a lot of value to that side if they’re going to go down that path.
“I know how good a player he is. If he had a run at red-ball cricket, I’m pretty sure he’d show people just how good he is at that format.”
