Australian T20 World Cup-winning captain Aaron Finch announces his retirement from International cricket on Tuesday. Having made his debut for Australia back in 2011, he rode into the end of his international career as one of the country’s finest in limited-overs cricket.
The Victoria-born cricketer played 146 ODIs, 103 T20Is and five Test matches for Australia in his 12-year-old career. In addition, Finch captained Australia to its maiden T20 World Cup in Dubai 2021 and finished as the longest-serving captain for the men down under in the shortest format, having played 76 T20Is as captain.
Finch retired as captain of the ODI side last September and his position in the team was always under the scanner from the last couple of years.
“Realizing that I won’t be playing on until the next T20 World Cup in 2024, now is the right moment to step down and give the team time to plan and build towards that event,”
the player said.
The 36-year-old further acknowledged the Australian cricket board, his family and fans for all the support he received throughout his career.
“I’d like to thank my family, especially my wife Amy, my team-mates, Cricket Victoria, Cricket Australia and the Australian Cricketers’ Association for their support to allow me to play the game I love at the highest level.
I also want to say a huge thank you to all the fans who have supported me throughout my international career,”
Finch said in a statement.
Along with being a T20 World Cup winner, Finch also won the ODI World Cup back in 2015. As a white-ball cricketer, he has won everything, and Cricket Australia chairman Lachlan Henderson considers Finch as one of Australia’s finest white-ball players.
In 142 innings, Finch scored 5496 ODI runs and 3120 runs in 103 T20Is. The veteran batter was also the number one ranked batter in T20Is and holds the record for most runs in a T20I innings, 172 against Zimbabwe.
He is still expected to continue to play for Melbourne Renegades in the Big Bash League for one last time next season.
