Glenn Maxwell has retired from international cricket. He's also stepping away from first-class and List A cricket, closing out a career for Australia and Victoria that took him from Schramms Reserve to the top of the world game.
Maxwell had already given away ODIs in June last year but stayed available for T20Is, playing at the 2026 T20 World Cup. Australia's final game of that tournament, against Oman in February, is now his last for his country: he took two wickets and didn't bat. His final game for Victoria came in the One-Day Cup against South Australia earlier this season. He'll play on in the BBL, with his Melbourne Stars contract running to 2027-28.
Maxwell admitted he'd hoped for a farewell at the MCG, but said he understood the selectors are looking ahead to the 2028 Olympics. Of the T20 format, he said it has "almost felt like home over the last 15 years."
A career for the ages
Fourteen years, 286 games for Australia, three World Cups. Here's how it adds up.
| Format | Matches | Runs | High score | 100s | 50s | Strike rate | Wickets | Best |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tests | 7 | 339 | 104 | 1 | 0 | – | 8 | 4/127 |
| ODIs | 149 | 3,990 | 201* | 4 | 23 | 126.7 | 77 | 4/40 |
| T20Is | 130 | 2,897 | 145* | 5 | 12 | 154.4 | 51 | 3/10 |
- 10 international hundreds and 136 international wickets.
- Three World Cups: the ODI World Cup in 2015 and 2023, and the 2021 T20 World Cup, where he hit the winning runs in the final.
- A hundred in every format, sealed by his 104 against India in Ranchi in 2017.
In the record books
- Most T20I hundreds: 5. A world record he shares with Rohit Sharma. He was the first Australian to make three.
- 201 not out, the highest ODI score ever from his batting position. It came against Afghanistan at the 2023 World Cup, and 144 of those runs came in fours and sixes, the 6th-most in an ODI innings.
- 202* for the eighth wicket, the highest eighth-wicket stand in ODI history, made in that same innings with Pat Cummins.
- Second-highest career strike rate in ODIs: 126.7.
- 1,000 runs, 50 wickets and 50 catches in ODIs, a club of genuine all-rounders.
- Opened the batting and the bowling in the same Test, a rare double.
- Four player-of-the-series awards in T20Is, 7th on the all-time list.
- Four catches in an innings in both ODIs and T20Is, ranked 3rd and 5th in those formats.
Fun facts
- It started and peaked against Afghanistan. His ODI debut came against Afghanistan in August 2012. Eleven years later he made that 201 not out against the same side. Australia were 7/91 chasing 292 when he walked out, and he finished it while barely able to move with cramp, as Cummins held up the other end.
- The fastest World Cup hundred ever. Two weeks before that, he brought up a 40-ball century against the Netherlands in Delhi, the quickest in World Cup history.
- A million-dollar man. He went for US$1 million to Mumbai Indians at the 2013 IPL auction, the top price that year.
- Still going. He was Player of the Tournament in BBL|14 for the Stars, and he isn't finished in green yet.
One of ours
Before all of that, Glenn was a Fitzroy Doncaster 1st XI player, and he never stopped coming back. Across 84 games for the club from 2007-08 to 2025-26 he made 2,769 runs at 39.56, with six hundreds and 16 fifties, took 134 wickets at 24.77 and held 39 catches.
His 2008-09 season is one of the great all-round seasons in club history: 669 runs, including 144 against Northcote, and 35 wickets, including a career-best 6/63 in the same fixture. It earned him the 1st XI Bowling award, and he added the 1st XI Batting award in 2010-11. He captained the 1st XI in 2013-14 and 2014-15, and his batting average ranks 5th of 203 players with 20 or more innings in the club's record books. His most recent game for us was against Northcote on 13 December 2025.
Congratulations on a remarkable international career, Maxi. You'll always have a home at Schramms Reserve, and we'll be cheering every Stars game.
Cover photo: ESPNcricinfo (opens in a new tab)
