Matthew Halse Life Member #25 - Penrith Cricket Club
Penrith Cricket Club | August 11, 2025
We are proud to announce and celebrate the endorsement of Matthew Halse for Life Membership of Penrith Cricket Club — recognising nearly 30 years of dedication, service, and impact. Announced at our AGM – Monday 28 July 2025
Endorsement speech by Josh Lalor
Matthew Halse Career Summary
Matthew’s relationship with the club spans nearly 30 years. It first began in season 1995/96 when he played in the Green Shield team who went on to lose the final. Backing up the following year, the team had another stellar season and eventually went on to go one better and win the Green Shield competition.
Matt also played 5th grade that season alongside a few other life members, including his Dad, Ronnie and Rod ‘Scorch’ Evans, SCORCHY!!
Remarkably, that 5th-grade team, full of the young and talented Green Shield team, also went on to win the competition in what was quite an introduction to the club.
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It's fair to say that Matt set some lofty expectations as a clubman in his second season. But I am pleased to say that his constant presence as part of our club over the last 30 years has far exceeded what anyone could have hoped for in those early days.
Taking the path of many grade cricketers, Matt worked his way through the grades, learning about the game along the way, eventually culminating in a first-grade debut.
In his playing career with the Club, Matt finished with impressive numbers:
- 484 career wickets & 557 club wickets (inclusive of PGS and Greenies)
- 6664 club runs
- 226 catches
- Played in excess of 300 games
His First Grade career alone included:
- 264 wickets @ 23
- 2690 runs @21
- 103 catches
Unsurprisingly, he has also won many accolades along the way, including:
- Mens Limited Overs Player of the Year award (2015/16)
- Mens T20 Player of the Year award (2013/14)
- PGS Player of the Year award (1999/00)
- Green Shield Player of the Year award (1996/97)
In addition, Matt was appointed First Grade Captain in 2012/13. After a number of seasons in which the team made the semi-finals, Matt captained the team to the Limited Overs final in 2016/17.
For mine, Halsey is the embodiment of how we played our one-day cricket. Get to 200 on a Sunday wicket at Howell and squeeze the life out of the opposition in the afternoon. He would have scored 20 at the end of our innings, had a dart for lunch and then rolled out 2-30 off 10 later in the day.
Following his retirement in 2017, he took a few seasons off to spend time with Lauren and the girls and play some ordinary golf at the course with no clubhouse. He would soon return, though in season 21/22, to Captain the 4th-grade team and help with the development of our next crop of young local players. After 2 years leading the 4th Grade team, Matt finally called
time on his playing career.
But he was not done. After a few red wines one evening, Matt woke to the reality that he had joined the committee in the role of Cricket Manager, a role he has filled now for a few seasons. Goldy tells me that he is a valued member of the committee, combining his wealth of playing experience with his leadership and commitment to doing the best by the club.
While the stats and the sheer length of time tell part of the story, there’s so much more that goes into Matt being such a prominent part of the history of Penrith Cricket Club. He has always represented the things we hang our hats on as a club.
He’s a local junior.
He always played the game hard but fair.
And he always punched above his weight, like our club so often does.
And in the smallest way, this is the club’s way to recognise what an impact Matt has had on this place and all the people that have been a part of our club over the last 30 years.
With that, I am pleased to support Matt’s nomination to be a Life Member of Penrith Cricket Club.
Clip from the Captains Circle on BeaconPoint Cricket with Paul Ryan - setting the field for left arm swing bowlers
