Glenn Maxwell retires from international cricket, ending a 14-year career

Australian all-rounder Glenn Maxwell has announced his retirement from international cricket. He made the announcement on Monday (November 2), according to a report by Cricinfo, bringing his 14-year international career to an end.

The 38-year-old Maxwell represented Australia in all three formats. He played 7 Tests, 149 One Day Internationals (ODIs) and 130 Twenty20 Internationals.

With the bat, he scored 3,990 runs in ODIs, 2,897 runs in T20 internationals and 339 runs in Test cricket. With the ball, he took 136 wickets in international cricket, establishing himself as a valuable all-rounder in Australia's limited-overs side.

Maxwell's international journey began with his ODI debut against Afghanistan in Sharjah on August 25, 2012. His T20 debut followed in September that year against Pakistan in Dubai, and he received his Test cap against India in Hyderabad in March 2013.

His career includes two ODI World Cup titles, in 2015 and 2023, and the T20 World Cup trophy in 2021.

But the innings that came to define his career was played against Afghanistan at the 2023 ODI World Cup. Chasing 292 at Mumbai's Wankhede Stadium, Australia had collapsed to 91 for 7 and stood on the brink of defeat.

Battling severe cramps and barely able to move, Maxwell nevertheless scored an unbeaten 201 off 128 balls, with 21 fours and 10 sixes. Together with captain Pat Cummins, who finished unbeaten on 12, he put on a 202-run partnership to take Australia to victory with 19 balls to spare. It was the first double century by an Australian men's batter in ODI cricket. Australia went on to beat India in the final to lift the trophy.

Signs that Maxwell's role in Australia's international plans was shrinking became clear in 2026. He was left out of Cricket Australia's national central contract list for the 2026-27 season, announced last April.

Maxwell had already announced his retirement from ODI cricket in June 2025. His last match in that format was the Champions Trophy semi-final against India in Dubai. The physical demands of the ODI format and a series of injuries had influenced that decision.

Being dropped from the central contract list did not end his T20 career at that point. In March he said he did not want to rush a formal decision about his future in the shortest format; he wanted to test his fitness and form and keep open the chance of playing for Australia again.

Later, Maxwell was also left out of the T20 squad for the May-June 2026 tour of Bangladesh. The selectors chose a new squad built around young players, in which experienced names such as Maxwell, Steve Smith and Marcus Stoinis were not considered. Chief selector George Bailey had indicated at the time that the T20 careers of the three were not entirely over.

In the end, the Super Eight match against Oman at the T20 World Cup on February 20, 2026, stands as Maxwell's final international appearance.

Although he has retired from international cricket, his chapter in franchise cricket continues. He is still playing in T20 leagues around the world and is contracted to the Melbourne Stars in the Big Bash until the end of the 2026-27 season.