Matt Short walks taller into new BBL season with Adelaide Strikers

Not only is the Adelaide Strikers top order batting all-rounder the reigning BBL player of the year, he is also now a fully fledged international cricketer.

The East Ballarat product has had a 12 months that this time last year he would have only imagined in his wildest dreams.

When Short began the BBL|12 season, he was a seasoned batsman and part-time off-spin bowler with Victoria with the red and white ball, and eight-season BFL player - four each with Melbourne Renegades and Adelaide.

How that profile would change in such a short time.

In a summer that would change his professional cricket life, Short made his first Sheffield Shield and 50-over centuries for Victoria.

He would go on to get three and two hundreds respectively in those competitions.

However, it would be in the BBL that he would have the biggest impact.

In a competition full of international superstars, Short became one of the competition's stars in his own right.

The 28-year-old topped the BBL|12 run aggregate with 458 and complemented that with 11 wickets.

Of all his performances in that competition, there was one which captured the imagination of the Australian cricketing public and suggested he should be in line for national selection.

He hit his maiden BBL century - an unbeaten 100 - to lead the Strikers to a record-breaking 3-230 and victory over Hobart Hurricanes, the highest run-chase in Big Bash history.

Short smashed eight fours and three sixes off 59 balls.

From the success of BBL|12, it has been a whirlwind for Short..

A year full of new career heights and lifelong memories.

He has lived for a large part of the year living out of a suitcase while traveling the world.

At the top of his achievements have been Australian one-day and T20 debuts.

He has worn Australian colours in South Africa and India, the latest being in a T20 series against India in India after the World Cup.

On top of this he has played with the Punjab Kings in the IPL, Northern Superchargers in The Hundred tournament in England and Washington Freedom in the new United States-based T20 competition MLC.

As Short said during his time in the US: "Never did I ever think as a youngster that I would be out here in America playing cricket."

So when he walks out onto the Adelaide Oval on Saturday for the Adelaide Strikers' first game of the BBL|13 season (and first of a new three-year contract for him) against Brisbane Heat, it will be a different feel for Short.

There will be added pressure as he not only looks to carry on from where he left off last BBL season, but also aims to keep his name before national selectors for both short forms of the white ball game and stay in the picture for further opportunities with overseas franchises.

Short will take all that though.

As exciting as 2023 has been for the boy from Ballarat, 2024 has the potential to be even bigger.