Matthew Hilder

Randwick Petersham Cricket Club | July 09, 2025

Matt Hilder came from the Petersham-Marrickville side of the merger with Randwick in 2001 to form Randwick Petersham. He was an experienced 22-year-old Sydney Grade cricketer, having started as an A W Green Shield boy with Parramatta DCC in 1993-94. He joined Petes in 1998-99, playing lower grades and Poidevin Gray Shield until the creation of Randwick Petersham. He finished second in the 2nd Grade batting aggregate with 300 runs in 2000-01, playing with the likes of David Bourke and Dean White, a season after putting on 141 in a partnership with Steve Yates for the first wicket against Manly in a PGs match. He was a valued player with Petersham-Marrickville and remained as such with Randwick Petersham.

A product of Model Farms High School, the right-hand bat and right-arm medium pace bowler began his Randwick Petersham career in 2001-02 in 3rd Grade and finished in 4s. Over the following seasons he was up and down and in and out of 3rd, 4th and 5th grades playing more as a utility player without setting the world on fire. In 2005-06 however, he re-united with skipper Dean White, playing the last 11 matches in 5th Grade where he was the team’s “player of the season”, as he amassed 440 runs and 22 wickets while having a major hand in the side taking out the premiership.

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In round 14 of that season, he took a hat-trick as part of a 7-45 performance to have Sutherland out for 178, then hit a hard-earned half-century to guide the side to a two runs victory and clinch a place in the finals. But it was the big matches where he showed his talent. He made 105 in the semi-final against Penrith, while in the Grand Final playing Fairfield-Liverpool at Village Green, he top-scored with 54 then took a valuable 2-32 before breaking a troublesome partnership with a freakish run-out to take the premiership.

The following 2006-07 season included another feature of Matt’s career as he made his highest score—153* against Parramatta at Princes Park, Auburn. He also finished with six wickets in the outright win, including a superb 4-5 in Parra’s second innings of 97. His 442 runs for the season was a career-best and remained as such while his batting average of 55.25 was a new 5th Grade record. An early game in 4s that season brought him a 52 and 6-49 double against Bankstown at Petersham Oval.

Another 5th Grade premiership followed and a season later in 2008-09, Matt was installed as skipper. Unfortunately, being sent in to bat on a wet Coogee Oval wicket in yet another final, gave Campbelltown-Camden the advantage and in turn the premiership. But it was another personal triumph for Matt Hilder as he set another 5th Grade record of 51 wickets, which was also the most in the competition by a margin of 16 and included five wickets in an innings five times. His best was 8-69 off a marathon 29 overs after scoring 72*against Easts. It was no surprise that Matt was named Randwick Petersham Player of the Season which he won by a record 263 points.

Over the seasons which followed, Matt was in keen demand alternating between 3rd and 4th grades, concentrating more on his batting than his bowling. He hit a half-century in each grade in three successive seasons and in 2012-13 captained the 3rd Grade side. He made 226 runs that season with 74 against Wests and 78* playing Sydney University his best.

In 2013-14, he and Chris Singh put on 152 for the 6th wicket in 4th Grade against Gordon at Killara Oval to chase down 270 and win by four wickets with Matt making 85*. And while that partnership was just short of the 4th Grade record, Hilder remains joint holder of two such records in 5th Grade. In the club’s second season 2002-03, he and Troy Brewster put on 178 for the 1st wicket against Eastern Suburbs chasing 183 while six seasons later in 2008-09, he joined Karl Schubert to rattle up 152 for the 5th wicket in a massive score of 8-287 in a limited overs match playing Sydney. Both of those records have not been bettered.

At the end of 2014-15, Matt decided to hang up his boots and went into what turned out to be “temporary” retirement. It was a very brief spell because in 2016-17, he heeded the call and returned to the fold to assist Nigil Singh lead a group of highly promising cricketers to the club’s (and Matt’s) third 5th Grade premiership. His experience added a great deal to the make-up of the side and skipper Nigil credits him with much of the success of the team. And at 39 years of age with little more to achieve in the game, Matt decided to call time on a magnificent cricket career.

In 16 seasons with Randwick Petersham, Matthew Hilder scored 4,431 runs with two centuries and a highest score of 153*. He also took 205 wickets at the excellent average of 16.82 with 8-69 his best. He was most effective in 5th Grade where he scored 2,330 runs and took 131 wickets. He also took one of just two hat-tricks in 5th Grade. He played 238 matches

across the four lower grades and held 126 catches. With his Petersham-Marrickville years, his overall figures are 293 matches, 5,329 runs, 219 wickets and 135 catches.

Matthew had five seasons with Parramatta before joining Petersham-Marrickville. His overall career stats make impressive reading with a total of 6,578 runs from 343 matches with 266 wickets and 165 catches. With the addition of his seasons in the age competitions, Poidevin Gray and A W Green Shield, he passes some excellent milestones, scoring 7,300 runs in 371 matches while taking 301 wickets and holding 175 catches.

Apart from being an outstanding contributor on the field, Matt also gave of his time to the management of the club. He served on the management committee in 2008-09 and for the following three years took on the role of Assistant CEO to David Holland. He also assisted with the running of the “Legends” golf day.

Matthew David Hilder was born at Wahroonga on 26 December 1978. He played every Sydney Grade Cricket competition except 1st Grade and the fact that he did not play a single game at the top level is no reflection on his ability or competitive spirit.

Lyall Gardner

Randwick Petersham Cricket Historian

Sydney Cricket Association 5th Grade Premiers 2016-17

Back row from left: Savio Gracias-Flor, Mitchell O’Loughlin, Sam Boyns, Chris Hart, Nigil Singh (C), MacKenzie Waugh

Front row from left: Kel Mullins, Vishwas Saini, Dylan Powell, Jack Standing, Ben Montedoro, Matt Hilder

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