Alex Blackwell, Australia’s most capped female cricketer, has retired from all international and state cricket. The 34-year-old Australian vice-captain will continue to play for the Sydney Thunder in the Rebel Women’s Big Bash League.
Alex Blackwell played her first game for Australia in 2003 - a One-Day International against England - and went on to play 251 matches across all three formats for her country.
Blackwell compiled 5,250 runs batting in the middle order for Australia in the Test, Twenty20 and One-Day arenas, becoming just the fourth Australian to pass 5,000 runs in a career that spanned more than 14 years.
Appointed vice-captain of the national side in 2008, she first captained Australia during the 2009 ICC Women’s World Cup in Sydney. In May 2010, with regular skipper Jodie Fields out injured, she led Australia to victory at the ICC Twenty20 World Cup in the West Indies.
Alex Blackwell was also a member of Australia’s World T20 winning sides in 2012 and 2014 to go with her two World Cup trophies (2005 and 2013).
Cricket Australia CEO James Sutherland said: “Alex has been a wonderful servant to Australian Cricket, and a tremendous leader both at national and international level, and we congratulate her on an outstanding career that has spanned more than 16 years.
“She was a talented cricketer - a fierce competitor, hard-working and far more often than not, a winner - Alex played an instrumental role in the dominance of both the Australian and New South Wales teams over the last decade.
“Having reinvented herself in the shorter formats of the game in more recent years, Alex leaves the game as Australia’s most capped female player, having become the first Australian woman to play 200 games for her country, and sitting second and third in terms of runs scored in the T20 and ODI formats for Australia.
“We are very lucky to have had Alex and her twin sister Kate both represent Australia over a period of time, with the pair playing in many winning teams together at national and state level for New South Wales, said Sutherland.
Alex Blackwell played a total of 138 50-over matches and 68 T20’s for her native New South Wales, scoring 4764 and 1956 runs at an average of 47.17 and 54.33, respectively.
She spent five years as vice-captain of the New South Wales side before being appointed captain ahead of the 2010-11 season.
(With inputs from Cricket Australia)
