Glenn Maxwell Retires From International Cricket After 14 Years With Australia

Glenn Maxwell has retired from international cricket, closing a 14-year Australia career that brought three World Cup titles and some of the fastest scoring the one-day game has seen. The 38-year-old all-rounder announced the decision on The Final Word podcast, in an episode released in Australia this week, with the first reports published on November 2 and wire reports following on November 3.

'I am going to be announcing my retirement from international cricket and domestic games for Victoria in the 50 over and the four-day stuff, red ball completely,' Maxwell said on the podcast, as reported by Reuters. He also steps away from domestic 50-over and red-ball cricket for Victoria. He is not leaving the game altogether. Maxwell will keep playing franchise Twenty20 cricket, including for Melbourne Stars in the Big Bash League.

The farewell that did not happen

Maxwell had kept a small hope of one last international match at home. Australia named its squad on Monday for this month's Twenty20 series against England, and Maxwell was not in it. A match in the series is scheduled at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, his home ground, and Maxwell said he had held 'a small hope' of a send-off game there. He said he understood the direction of the squad. The selectors are turning to younger players, with the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics and the 2028 T20 World Cup ahead, and Maxwell said the young players need exposure to international pressure.

He also pointed to his body. Maxwell said he needs to spend more time looking after his fitness so he can finish the franchise tournaments left in his career. He had already retired from one-day internationals in June 2025, and his last Test was back in 2017.

A career measured in big innings

Maxwell played 286 matches for Australia: 149 one-day internationals, 130 Twenty20 internationals and seven Tests. He scored 7,226 international runs and took 136 wickets. In one-day cricket he made 3,990 runs. In T20 internationals he made 2,897 runs and hit five centuries, a record he shares with India's Rohit Sharma. He is one of only five Australian men to score a century in all three international formats, alongside Shane Watson, David Warner, Josh Inglis and Mitchell Marsh.

He won the one-day World Cup with Australia in 2015 and again in 2023, and the T20 World Cup in 2021. His defining innings came at the 2023 World Cup in Mumbai. Australia were 91 for 7, chasing 292 against Afghanistan, and Maxwell, batting through cramps and back pain, finished on 201 not out from 128 balls and won the match almost on his own. It remains one of the most talked-about innings in one-day history.

The last match

Maxwell made his international debut in a one-day match against Afghanistan in 2012. His final appearance came in February 2026, against Oman at the T20 World Cup in Sri Lanka, where he took 2 for 13 from three overs with his off-spin and was not required to bat. Australia went out of that tournament in the group stage.

Known to fans as The Big Show, Maxwell built his name on reverse sweeps, switch hits and scoring rates few batters could match. That style now continues only in franchise cricket, starting with Melbourne Stars, while Australia's white-ball teams move on without him.