New Zealand Opener retire international cricket
2024.05.11
Former Blackcaps batter Colin Munro has announced his retirement from international cricket.
Making his debut in 2012, the heavy-hitting lefthander has played 65 Twenty20s, 57 one-dayers and a single test for New Zealand.
He finishes as New Zealand’s sixth-highest runscorer in T20I cricket, with 1724 runs at an average of 31, including three centuries – the most by any NZ player.
In order to prioritize his family, Munro, 37, announced last month that he will not be participating in the T20 tour to Pakistan, his first act as a player for New Zealand in four years. Then, he was passed over for the Blackcaps T20 World Cup roster.
He claims that the time has come for him to permanently leave the international scene and concentrate on T20 franchise cricket.
“Playing for the Blackcaps has always been the biggest achievement in my playing career,” he stated. “I will always be immensely proud of myself for being able to don the shirt 123 times in all formats. There was never a moment when I felt more proud.
“Even though it has been a long since I played for my team, I never lost faith that I could be able to make a comeback based on my franchise T20 form.
“With the announcement of the Blackcaps squad for the T20 World Cup, now is the perfect time to close that chapter officially.”
Munro, according to NZ Cricket CEO Scott Weenink, will be remembered as one of the nation’s finest batsmen in several formats.
“Colin was one of our first players to embrace the aggressive, 360-degree style batting that is now accepted all around the world as best practice,” stated Weenink.
He was one of the forerunners of the new sport, a creative batsman who elevated measured risk-taking to a new plane and spearheaded the eventual revolution in short-form cricket.
@charith
