Australia Women’s Alex Blackwell to retire from international and state cricket

On Monday at Sydney, Australia Women’s vice-captain Alex Blackwell announced retirement from international and state cricket. Her announcement came after her side NSW Breakers sealed a spot in the 50-over Women’s National Cricket League final. Blackwell will be captaining her state for one last time, against Western Australia in the final on Saturday. The Breakers are aiming for their 19th title.

Blackwell’s retirement came before the Australian squad for India was announced. She wishes to continue playing for Sydney Thunder in WBBL. She has captained the franchise since the inaugural season. Under her captaincy, Thunder won the title in the first edition and reached the semi-final in the third.

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Blackwell’s international career comprises of 12 Tests, 144 ODIs and 95 T20Is. She completed the 250th international game of her career last year during the Ashes earlier this summer.  She also completed 5,000 international runs during the 2017 Women’s World Cup. She ended her career with total of 5,250 international runs — 444 in Tests, 3,492 in ODIs and 1,314 in T20Is. She is one of the seven Australian Women cricketers to have scored more than 1,000 T20I runs.

Blackwell was part of Australia’s World-Cup winning campaigns in 2005 and 2013. She has also led the side to their first T20 World Cup title, in 2010 in West Indies. She has captained Australia in 33 matches across formats in absence of Jodie Fields and Meg Lanning. She last played for Australia in the last day-night Ashes Test in November last year.

Cricket Australia CEO James Sutherland conveyed a special message to Blackwell via cricket.com.au: “Alex has been a wonderful servant to Australian Cricket, and a tremendous leader both at national and international level, and we congratulate her on an outstanding career that has spanned more than 16 years. There’s no doubt Alex will be missed but she should be incredibly proud of what she has achieved and the way she has competed on all stages, and we wish her all the best for the future ahead.”