Glenn Maxwell announces international retirement, ending 14-year Australia career
Glenn Maxwell in Melbourne Stars colours during a Big Bash League match (file photo: Wikimedia Commons / Haley Jackson, CC BY 2.0).
Sydney: Glenn Maxwell has called time on his international career. The 38-year-old Australian all-rounder announced his retirement on Tuesday on The Final Word podcast, describing the moment as “a little bit sad and a little bit inevitable too”.
The decision came a day after Maxwell was left out of Australia’s Twenty20 squad for November’s series against England. Selectors have gone with youth in the short format, and with that omission went Maxwell’s hope of a farewell match at his home ground, the Melbourne Cricket Ground. He had not played for Australia since February’s World Cup in Sri Lanka, and was also bypassed for the series against Bangladesh in June.
The Big Show’s numbers
Maxwell made his international debut against Afghanistan in August 2012, and over fourteen years he played seven Tests, 149 one-day internationals and 130 Twenty20 internationals. He scored 3,990 runs in ODIs and 2,897 in T20Is, at a strike rate of 154.42 in the shortest format, and took 136 wickets across all three formats. He was part of three World Cup-winning squads: the ODI triumphs of 2015 and 2023, and the T20 title of 2021.
Two innings will define him. Against Afghanistan at the 2023 World Cup, cramping and barely able to move, he scored an unbeaten 201 and dragged Australia to a win that had looked impossible. Earlier in the same tournament, his 40-ball hundred against the Netherlands was the fastest century in World Cup history. His five T20I centuries remain a joint record, shared with India’s Rohit Sharma.
What comes next
Maxwell had already retired from ODI cricket in June last year. Now he has also given up 50-over and four-day cricket for Victoria, meaning red-ball cricket is finished completely. He will, however, keep playing franchise Twenty20, with his Melbourne Stars contract in the Big Bash League extended through the 2027-28 season.
He was clear that the Australian team management did not push him out — the door to a return had been left open. He simply wants to look after his body now, he said, so he can get through the tournaments that remain. One of the most inventive, infuriating and thrilling cricketers of his generation has played his last game for Australia.
