Matt Cassar
Randwick Petersham Cricket Club | July 07, 2025
Matt Cassar was the fourth Petersham-Marrickville cricketer to play English County Cricket. He played six years with Derbyshire and two with Northamptonshire between 1994 and 2002. He followed in the footsteps of Bill Alley, Ken Grieves and Noel Hughes, all of whom participated in the County Championship for several seasons. Another to have a career in English cricket was Cec Pepper, who left the club in 1946 and played in the Lancashire League for almost 20 years.
Matthew Edward Cassar was born at Sydney on 16 October 1972. He joined Petersham-Marrickville’s under 16 years A W Green Shield team of 1987-88 alongside future club 1st graders Corey Pearson, Matt Whitby and David Kelly. He participated as a batsman in the three matches he played that season as he did in the nine the following summer. And while he totalled 138 runs that second season, he had an extra “string in his bow”, being the leading bowler with 24 wickets at 13.8 runs apiece. Playing St George at Marrickville he knocked up a quick 32 then, with the new ball, demolished the Saints for 110 taking 6-24 in the process. He also played a full season spread across 4th and 5th grades taking 17 wickets and scoring 125 runs, displaying all-rounder potential.
Two seasons later in 1990-91, the talent of Matt Cassar was on display for all to witness. In round 5 playing Bankstown in 4th Grade, the dashing right-hander smashed the attack to all parts of Jubilee Oval to bring up a score of 152–one run less than Colin Hollingsworth’s club record of 153 established 33 years earlier in 1957-58. His innings was peppered with 21 boundaries. Eight matches followed in 3rd Grade, but in round 14, selectors bypassed 2nd Grade and named the 18 -year-old in the 1st Grade side to meet Sutherland at Caringbah Oval. In an impressive debut, he scored 35 batting at no. 8, ensuring a solid first innings win.
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Commencing the following 1991-92 season in 2nd Grade, a dashing 45 against Manly and a bowling double of 5-56 and 4-61 in the outright defeat of Penrith at Petersham, saw the youngster elevated to 1st Grade. And while his 11 wickets at 12 apiece was impressive, he excelled the following summer as the leading all-rounder in the side. Claimed by skipper Greg Hartshorne in the previous year’s annual report “Matt Cassar is a very exciting prospect”, that prediction gathered momentum as the right-hander hit his first century and had his first “five-for”. Meeting Sutherland at Petersham, Cassar played a controlled innings of 113 in 330 minutes hitting 12 fours and a six after the loss of early wickets. That win followed a similar result a few matches earlier when he took 5-28 off 12 overs to knock over Balmain for 133. That performance followed a 4-12 and 2-33 effort in the defeat of Western Suburbs the match before. Matt finished the season with 219 runs and 26 wickets at 18.3.
Continuing the form, Cassar hit a quick 70 in a limited overs match against Randwick early the next season and shortly after took 5-30 against Northern District at Petersham. One of his wickets was future Australian star Adam Gilchrist, caught for 12. But the big moment for the 21-year-old came when he was selected for NSW Colts against Queensland Colts in Brisbane. The Queensland side contained future first-class players, Martin Love, Jimmy Maher and Andrew Symonds, and they posted a huge score of 523. In reply, NSW was doing it tough until Matt at no.7, played a fighting innings of 129 off 303 balls in 240 minutes. It was a brilliant knock, although the final score of 432 was not enough to take the match.
At the end of the 1993-94 season, Matt joined English County Cricket Club Derbyshire and made his first-class debut during the course of that summer. Returning to Sydney, he played just eight 1st Grade games. In his second match he opened the innings against St George scoring 53 and figuring in a partnership of 106 for the second wicket with Graeme Cunningham. He then went through the Saints batting, turning in a brilliant 7-36 performance off 17 overs. Two rounds later, he almost repeated the dose hitting 55 at the top of the order and taking 4-55 off 16 playing Hawkesbury at Richmond. But apart from four matches in 1995-96, Matt Cassar wasn’t part of the Petes line-up for the following three years while he concentrated on his UK County cricket.
In 1999-2000, Matt was back for the season. He bowled superbly to head the attack taking 37 wickets at 20.51. In a match famous for a record partnership of 249 between Con Karantz and the English County cricketer David Fulton, Cassar was the star with the ball taking 6-73 off 18 overs to give his side victory by an amazing 201 runs. He also took 5-41 against North Sydney while hitting half-centuries of 62 and 53 in a season tally of 228.
Matt completed his County Cricket career in 2002 after two seasons with Northamptonshire. And while he played just one match back home in 2000-01, he returned to the fold two years later in the second season of the newly merged entity Randwick Petersham. He played the full season in the side, being one of its major contributors scoring 530 runs while taking 31 wickets. Included was a dashing 123 against Blacktown and spells of 3-8, 3-30 and 3-39. At the end of the season, he returned to England where he now lives with his wife and two children. He also runs a business in the finance industry.
In his time with Petersham-Marrickville and Randwick Petersham, Matt Cassar played 135 Grade matches scoring 2,463 runs and taking 195 wickets. Of those, 1,586 runs (1,056 P-M; 530 RPC) and 157 wickets (126 P-M; 31 RPC) were in 1st Grade. With the addition of his Poidevin-Gray and A W Green Shield performances, his figures extend to 2,843 runs and 238 wickets. In first-class cricket, Matt played 63 matches and scored 2,155 with 121 his highest while he took 91 wickets with 6-34 his best figures. In 68 Limited Overs matches he scored 1,695 with a top score of 134 and took 34 wickets with 4-29 his best.
Lyall Gardner OAM, Randwick Petersham Historian
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