Auckland (New Zealand): Senior New Zealand batter Colin Munro has announced retirement from international cricket, officially calling time on an international career that spanned 123 matches.
The southpaw, who last featured for New Zealand in the fifth T20I against India at Bay Oval in 2020, represented his country in 65 T20Is, 57 ODIs and a single Test, scoring over 3,000 international runs and taking seven wickets.
Munro ends his international career as New Zealand's sixth all-time leading T20 international run scorer with 1,724 runs at an average of 31 and a strike-rate of 156.4, including three T20 international centuries, the most by any New Zealander.
Munro represented New Zealand at the 2006 ICC Under 19 World Cup in Sri Lanka before making his international debut in all three formats on the 2012-13 tour of South Africa.
He was a key member of the New Zealand T20 and ODI teams between 2016 and 2019 and featured at the 2014 and 2016 T20 World Cups and the 2019 ODI World Cup in England.
His 47-ball century against West Indies at Bay Oval in 2018 was the fastest ever T20 century for New Zealand at the time and saw him become the first player to score three T20 international centuries.
His 14-ball half-century against Sri Lanka at Eden Park in 2016 is still the fastest T20 half-century by a New Zealander and the fourth fastest of all-time.
Munro said now was the right time to officially bring his international career to an end.
“Playing for the New Zealand has always been the biggest achievement in my playing career,” he was quoted as saying by New Zealand Cricket in a statement posted on X, formerly known as Twitter.
“I never felt prouder than donning that jersey, and the fact that I’ve been able to do that 123 times across all formats is something I will always be incredibly proud of. Although it has been a while since my last appearance, I never gave up hope that I might be able to return off the back of my franchise T20 form", Munro said.
“With the announcement of the New Zealand squad for the T20 World Cup now is the perfect time to close that chapter officially," the swashbuckling left-handed batter added.
NZC chief executive Scott Weenink said Munro would be remembered as one of New Zealand’s best multi-format batter.
“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,” said Mr Weenink.
Munro will however continue to play franchise cricket.
