Western Australia Seamer Matthew Kelly Retires After a Decade of Service
Matthew Kelly has retired after 54 Sheffield Shield matches and six Perth Scorchers seasons, finishing with 172 Shield wickets and several titles.
By SportCricket Desk · 7 Aug 2026 · 3 min read
Western Australia and Perth Scorchers pace bowler Matthew Kelly has announced his retirement after about ten years at the top of the domestic game.
Career snapshot
Kelly played 54 Sheffield Shield matches and 29 One-Day Cup games for Western Australia, along with 39 Big Bash League matches for the Scorchers across six seasons. Born in Durban, South Africa, he moved to Perth aged four. He began at Claremont-Nedlands, helping the club win the WA Premier Cricket T20 title in 2014-15, and joined Western Australia’s rookie list for 2016-17.
He called the WACA Ground his home away from home. WA High Performance Manager Kade Harvey praised his professionalism and leadership during one of the state’s most successful periods.
Trophies and standout spells
Kelly won three One-Day Cup titles (2019-20, 2021-22 and 2022-23), two Sheffield Shield titles (2021-22 and 2022-23) and the 2022-23 Big Bash League with the Scorchers. He helped end Western Australia’s 23-year wait for a Shield title in 2021-22. In 2022-23 he took 35 wickets at 15.77, including 4/41 in the final against Victoria.
He ended with 172 Shield wickets, and in his last season took 21 in four matches, with 5/43 against New South Wales and 6/49 against Tasmania. He won the Excalibur Award three times for embodying the team’s values.
Big Bash record
Kelly took 55 BBL wickets, 25 of them in the title-winning campaigns of 2021-22 and 2022-23. In the 2022-23 final he dismissed Max Bryant and Michael Neser. He retires as the Scorchers’ fifth-highest wicket-taker.
Having already turned down a Western Australia contract for 2026-27 to focus on limited-overs cricket, he has now decided to retire, leaving both sides without one of their most experienced seamers.
