Glenn Maxwell Retires From International Cricket After 286 Matches

Photo: Sky Sports (file)

Glenn Maxwell has retired from international cricket. The 38 year old Australian announced the decision on the Final Word podcast on Monday, closing a career that ran for 14 years and brought him two ODI World Cups and a T20 World Cup.

It was not quite the ending he had hoped for. Maxwell admitted he had held a small hope of one last game for Australia at his home ground, the MCG, against England later this month. The selectors had other plans, and he said he understood why. With the 2028 Olympics on the horizon, Australia want to give younger players time in international cricket, and a farewell game did not fit that plan.

ESPNcricinfo reported that Maxwell is also walking away from first class cricket and the List A game with Victoria. He will keep playing franchise cricket, and his Melbourne Stars contract in the Big Bash League runs to the 2027-28 season. He led Belfast Wolves to the final of the first European T20 Premier League in September, five days before playing his last two one day games for Victoria.

Maxwell had already quit ODI cricket in June 2025. He kept the door open in T20 cricket, but his last game for Australia turned out to be one most fans barely noticed at the time. It came in February 2026, against Oman in the T20 World Cup, a tournament Australia failed to get out of the group stage in. He took two wickets and did not get to bat. That quiet finish is now the final line of his international story.

The numbers tell you what kind of player he was. Across 286 internationals, 149 ODIs, 130 T20Is and seven Tests, he scored 7,226 runs and took 136 wickets. He hit 10 international centuries, including five in T20 cricket, a record he shares with India's Rohit Sharma. He is one of only five Australian men to score a century in all three formats.

Two innings will live longest in the memory. In the 2023 World Cup he smashed 201 not out from 128 balls against Afghanistan, dragging Australia from 91 for 7 to a target of 292 while barely able to move because of injury. In the same tournament he hit the fastest century in 50 over World Cup history, from just 40 balls against the Netherlands. He also hit the winning runs when Australia lifted the T20 World Cup in 2021, and he was part of the ODI World Cup winning sides in 2015 and 2023.

Speaking on the podcast, Maxwell said telling his Victoria team mates that his last state game was over had hit him harder than he expected. He said he got a little choked up in front of the group. His body, he added, needs the time now: eight weeks of solid rehab to get his knee right for the Big Bash.

For Pakistan fans, Maxwell was a familiar face in these parts too. He played in the ODI tri-series that brought England and Sri Lanka to Pakistan, and his explosive batting shaped many an Australia innings against Pakistan over the years. His retirement comes in a busy season for the game here, from Babar Azam passing 16,000 international runs to Pakistan lifting the tri-series trophy in Lahore and beating Sri Lanka in the Rawalpindi opener.

Sources

• ESPNcricinfo, Glenn Maxwell announces retirement from international cricket
• Sky Sports, Australia's Glenn Maxwell announces retirement from international cricket
• AAP, Australian short-form cricket star announces retirement

What happens next is Australia's white ball series against England later this month, the first without Maxwell, and the Big Bash season where he will turn out for the Melbourne Stars.

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