Watson calls it a day
Australia all-rounder Shane Watson has announced he is to retire from international cricket after the World Twenty 20 in India.
Having bowed out of test cricket a year ago, and not featuring in an Australian ODI team since September last year, he will now officially walk away from the international arena as the only Australian to score centuries in all forms of the game.
An aggressive opening batsman and a reliable medium-pacer, Watson scored 5,757 runs from 190 ODIs. He also took 168 ODI wickets and holds the Australian record for the highest ODI score, an unbeaten 185 against Bangladesh in Dhaka in 2011.
YouTube: shane watson 185* vs Bangladesh 2011 best innings ever
In the shorter format of the game, he has belted out 1,400 runs from 56 T20 Internationals so far while taking 46 wickets.
He has twice been a winner of the Allan Border Medal as Australian player of the year, he featured in three World Cups and was part of the Australian sides which triumphed in the 2007 and 2015 tournaments.
He has also appeared in all six World T20s and was player of the tournament in 2012.
Watson, who was sold for a staggering $2 million in the recent Indian Premier League auction, will continue to play in Twenty20 leagues around the world.
Watson retired from Tests following last summer’s Ashes series in England having won 59 caps, scoring 3,731 runs at 35.19 and taking 75 wickets at 33.68.
Cricket Australia chief executive James Sutherland said:
Shane should be proud of his contribution to Australian cricket.To be bracketed with Steve Waugh as Australia’s most prolific batting all-rounder in Test and one-day cricket is a very significant statement about his international career.