Surrey fast bowler Matthew Dunn has been forced to retire from professional cricket with immediate effect due to a shoulder injury.
The 33-year-old suffered a labral tear of the shoulder whilst playing for Surrey’s Second XI against Middlesex in May 2024. Due to ongoing pain in January 2025, Dunn underwent surgery to repair the injury and continued his rehabilitation with the hope of returning to the playing field as soon as possible. He was back on the pitch in June for the Surrey Second XI, but has suffered ongoing pain despite injections. After much consideration and consultation with the medical team at Surrey and his shoulder surgeon he has been advised to retire on medical grounds.
The fast-bowler has been a member of the Surrey squad that has won the County Championship four times since 2018 and played an important role in getting the Three Feathers promoted to Division One in 2015, taking 28 wickets with his searing pace in that campaign. In a career hampered by a number of injuries, he claimed 115 wickets for Surrey, including four five-wicket hauls, to go with 52 scalps in white-ball cricket.
Born in Egham, Dunn is a Surrey man through and through, first joining the Talent Pathway at the U13 level and was an established part of the pathway by the U15 stage, regularly representing the Club in age-group cricket. Dunn was selected in the Surrey Academy and graduated alongside players including Zafar Ansari and Arun Harinath in 2010.
Having already represented England U19s in 2009, Dunn made his first-class debut in 2010, playing against a touring Bangladesh side, before starring for Surrey with a five-for in his debut County Championship game against Derbyshire, at the age of 19.
After a couple of years of waiting in the wings, Matt properly burst onto the domestic circuit in 2014, leading the wicket-taking charts for Surrey with 47 first-class dismissals, fetching him an England Lions call-up as well. Unfortunately, instead of kicking on further, a series of injuries from then on slowed down his career progression.
In 2019, as a 27-year-old then, the Surrey speedster reminded everyone of his skill and genuine pace, collecting 13 wickets during the Guildford Festival, against Somerset and Yorkshire, including a career-best 5/43 in the first match. Frustratingly, the momentum he managed to build with those performances was yet again halted as the bad luck with injuries – this time an ankle issue – continued.
In 2021, Dunn’s daughter Florence was diagnosed with Dravet Syndrome, a rare form of epilepsy, and he took time away from the game to support his family through an incredibly difficult period. Florence passed away in 2023 and Matt, his wife Jessica and their family raised over £40,000 in her memory; raising awareness of the condition with the charity Dravet Syndrome UK.
Matt showed great courage and strength to continue in the squad, regularly featuring in the Second XI, during the Metro Bank One Day Cup since 2021, as well as when called upon in the T20s.
Dunn’s presence in the changing room throughout Surrey’s recent success has been significant and his influence on a young group of Surrey players – some of whom are already making their mark in the sport – during the previous few seasons has been invaluable.
Speaking after announcing his retirement, Matt Dunn said “Unfortunately, I’ve been struggling with a shoulder injury for the last 14 months now. I had a surgery in January, tried my best this year to come back, took multiple injections, but unfortunately, we’ve reached a point where we’re kind of out of options medically.
“For me, the Club is and has been an absolutely massive part of my life for a long time and it will be for a long time. I don’t think you ever really do properly leave this place.
“To my parents, my wife, my brother every teammate I’ve had, the coaching staff here, everyone who’s just bought into me, just a massive thank you. At the end of the day, sport takes a lot of sacrifice, and I look back on my personal life, I’ve missed a lot of it here. I’ve missed weddings, I’ve missed personal events. I’ve missed so much for my career, and a lot of people have stayed by my side throughout that. And I thank them for that, because at times you do have to be selfish, you do have to put everything into the career.
“Everyone who’s been there and facilitated that, just a massive thanks and on to the next chapter.”
Alec Stewart, High-Performance Cricket Advisor at Surrey CCC, said “It is always sad to see people leave, especially someone who has been at Surrey ever since he was a young lad and you know how much the Club means to him. What is even more gutting and heartbreaking is that an injury has compelled him to call it a day,”
“Matthew is a true one-club man and has been a wonderful servant to Surrey for over 14 years. He is highly respected and appreciated by his teammates and in the wider game as well. He is one of life’s great people.
“Dunny has had a lot of challenges in life, and he has faced them with bravery and dignity. Unfortunately, he has come across another difficult period of time, but I have no doubts he will see it through with courage and strength. He will always have the support of his teammates, the dressing room and the Club to lean on.
“He is a life-long member of the Surrey family and will always be warmly welcomed back at the Club.”
Rory Burns, Club Captain, adds: “Dunny has been a fantastic servant to the Club. I know that he has probably not played as much as he would have liked to in recent years because of injuries and what has gone on in his life, but to have him around the dressing room as a team man, as someone who truly buys into what the Club is all about, you can only hold him in the highest regard.
“For me, he has been my best mate in the dressing room for the whole time he has been at the Club. We signed at the same time, so to see and be part of his journey all that way, has been awesome.
“Him as a bloke, he is just a brilliant character, brilliant person, would do anything for you. And he is going to be a massive miss, particularly for me, someone who is sat next to him for the whole of that time. It is going to be different walking into the dressing room and not seeing him in my corner.
“He is someone I hold in the highest regard and someone I would like to congratulate on what they’ve done within the game, but also moving forward, we probably both need to get a little bit better at our phone so we can stay in communication a bit better when we are not with each other, but to know that we’ll always be there. He is a great bloke and one whom I can only speak highly of.”
