Australia’s T20 World Cup winner Glenn Maxwell has announced his “sad but inevitable” retirement from international cricket, expressing his disappointment that he has been overlooked for a farewell fixture at the MCG.
The big-hitting batsman has also called time on his career with Victoria but will keep playing in the Big Bash and other T20 leagues.
Maxwell, 38, retired from ODI cricket last year and the Aussies’ ill-fated T20 World Cup campaign earlier this year will now go down as his last appearance in green and gold.
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Left out for Australia’s T20 tour of Bangladesh in June, Maxwell has now confirmed his retirement after selectors named their squad for this month’s home white-ball series against England.
He said he had a “small hope” that he would be given a game in the first T20 in Melbourne on November 21.
“But I can completely understand the direction they’re going with this squad. There’s going to be a lot of change, I suppose, over the next 12 to 24 months with the (Los Angeles 2028) Olympics coming up,” Maxwell told the Final Word podcast.
“And they’ve got to make sure that they get their eyeballs on a few young guys coming through and making sure that they’re getting exposed to international pressure that you probably can’t always get from a BBL fixture.”
Maxwell, though, also admitted an MCG send-off would have pushed back a required injection on his knee to be ready for the Big Bash.
“So there was sort of a positive either way. And as soon as that door was shut, I was able to start to put some time back into my body,” he said.
“Eight weeks of solid rehab again to make sure I’m strong and ready for for the BBL coming up. So probably just the small fairytale that you sort of see these your heroes and idols go through.
“You start to let your mind drift towards that, and probably no other format I probably would have asked for it, except for this one, where I feel like it’s been it’s almost felt like home over the last 15 years.”
Maxwell finishes with 130 T20 internationals to his name, scoring 2897 runs at 28.97 with a 154.42 strike rate.
He scored five centuries and 12 fifties while he also hit the winning runs in the famous 2021 T20 World Cup final. He was then Australia’s best player in the 2022 T20 World Cup on home soil but their title defence ended in the group stage.
“I’m grateful for the time I was able to play for my country. If you had have offered me that career when I first walked into the Vic changerooms in 2009ish I would have bitten your hand off,” Maxwell said.
“I would have said that was no chance to happen. I’m extremely grateful to have played that much for my country and to have hopefully inspired some kids to want to take the game up, to want to play differently and to be open and vulnerable and to not shy away and be themselves.”
The announcement closes the book on an international career that also took in seven Test matches — but none on home soil, despite several calls for Maxwell to get a chance in the middle order.
Maxwell scored seven runs batting at No.7 for Victoria in a one-dayer last month and then delivered the news to teammates that he would never again pull on the Big V.
He said that was “harder than I thought it was going to be”.
“Knowing that they’ve played such a huge role in my whole career, every time I’ve come back, had great team-mates there and a lot of support from the state,” he said.
“I certainly got a little bit choked up speaking front of the group, but yeah, it’s probably a time where I probably need to spend a little bit more time investing in the in the body to make sure I can get through the remaining couple of tournaments I’ve got in my career.”
