Australian cricket star Glenn Maxwell, 36, has announced his retirement from One Day International (ODI) cricket after a 13-year career that included two World Cup victories, nearly 4,000 runs from 149 matches, and record-breaking performances including the highest batting strike rate in ODI history for players with over 2,000 runs.Maxwell informed selection chief George Bailey during February’s Champions Trophy tournament about his decision, citing physical demands and his inability to continue until the 2027 World Cup.Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SUBSCRIBE NOW!“I said to him right then and there, ‘I don’t think I’m going to make that’,” Maxwell told the Final Word podcast. “I think it’s time to start planning for people in my position, to have a crack at it and try and make that spot their own for the 2027 World Cup. Hopefully they get enough of a lead-in where they can have success in that role.”
The decision was made before his recent finger injury that forced him out of this year’s Indian Premier League.Maxwell joins other Australian cricket stars Marcus Stoinis, Steve Smith, and David Warner in retiring from the 50-over format, creating a significant void in the defending champions’ lineup for their title defence.The all-rounder will continue his career in T20s for Australia and hasn’t retired from first-class cricket either.Maxwell explained that the Champions Trophy games helped solidify his decision to retire from ODIs.“My decision to retire from one-day international cricket was probably more on the back of the first couple of games in the Champions Trophy,” he said. “I felt like I gave myself a really good opportunity to be fit and ready for those games. The first game in Lahore, we played on a rock-hard outfield. Post that game I was pretty sore.”“We were lucky enough to have a washout against South Africa, where I had a bit more time to have a bit of rest and get myself ready for the next game. The following game against Afghanistan, we fielded for 50 overs on a really, really wet outfield. It was slippery, it was soft, and I just didn’t pull up that well.”“I started to (realise) that if I don’t have the perfect conditions in 50-over cricket, my body just struggles to get through that. It feels like it’s a tiring affair just to get through – and almost surviving – the 50 overs, let alone being at my best throughout that 50 overs, and then going out there and trying to perform with the bat as well. I felt like I was letting the team down a little bit with how my body was reacting to the conditions.“
Maxwell’s career statistics are remarkable, finishing with a strike rate of 126.70, the highest among players with at least 2,000 runs in ODI history.His achievements include 77 wickets at 47.32 with his off-spin bowling and exceptional fielding skills.The highlight of his career was his memorable double-century against Afghanistan during the 2023 World Cup.Reflecting on that innings in his 2024 book, The Showman, Maxwell wrote: “This was a moment, like Steve Waugh’s Ashes ton on the last ball of the day, or Michael Bevan’s final four to beat the Windies. One of those events that makes you ask ‘Where were you when…’. It was crazy to think that I now had one of these, a moment when Australia was all on board.”
