Matthew Elliott's Test debut came in November 1996 at home to the West Indies when he opened the batting with Australian captain Mark Taylor. unfortunately for Elliott it wasn't to prove a memorable debut as he fell without scoring after 15 balls to West Indian stalwart Curtly Ambrose. He fared a little better in the 2nd innings scoring 21 before falling to Ian Bishop. The match was won by Australia (123 runs) thanks mainly to Ian Healy's highest Test score of 161 not out in the 1st innings.

1997 proved a year he would never forget when he was named as one of Wisden's five cricketers of the year after an outstanding Ashes series in England that included hundreds at Lord's (112) and Headingley (199) his highest Test score. He scored his final Test century later that year against New Zealand scoring 114.

Elliott struggled to keep his place in the Australian squad following an average season 1998 but despite his poor international run he secured his Australian contract when he amassed an astonishing 1381 runs in Victoria's winning Pura Cup season of 2003-04, eclipsing Graham Yallop's previous Australian record for the most runs in a domestic first-class season.

The tally included seven hundreds and led to him claiming Pura Cup Player of the Year honours for a record third time.

He was also among the competition's highest run-scorers in the ING Cup, with 493 runs at an average of 54.77.

Made his return to international cricket in July 2004 for the first 3 -Mobile Test against Sri Lanka in Darwin , in place of captain Ricky Ponting who withdrew due to a family bereavement. Batting at number three, he made scores of 1 and 0 in what was his first Test since 1999.

Test cap No. 368 | One Day cap No. 134