Aussie World Cup hero retires from ODI cricket after whirlwind 13-year career

Australian white-ball superstar Glenn Maxwell has announced his retirement from 50-over cricket, effective immediately.

The 36-year-old confirmed his departure from the international format via his online platform GlennMaxwell.live and The Final Word podcast, after 149 ODI matches since his debut in August of 2012.

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Maxwell will continue to be available for Australian T20I matches, with the 2026 Men’s T20 World Cup in India and Sri Lanka the next major event for the format on the international calendar.

He remains available for any Test call-up, although a return looks unlikely given his last red-ball cameo at the top level came in 2017 against Bangladesh nearly eight years ago.

The Victorian product retires with two World Cups, four centuries and a double-hundred next to his name in the 50-over game.

“My decision to retire from one-day international cricket was probably more so on the back of the first couple of games in the Champions Trophy. I felt like I gave myself a really good opportunity to be fit and ready for those games,” Maxwell told The Final Word’s Adam Collins in his exclusive interview.

“The first game in Lahore, we played on a rock-hard outfit. Post that game, I was pretty sore … the following game against Afghanistan, we fielded for 50 overs on a really, really wet outfit. It was slippery (and) soft — I just didn’t pull up that well.

“I started to think about (how) if I don’t have the perfect conditions in 50-over cricket, my body probably struggles to get through that. It’s a tiring affair just to get through the basics … almost surviving the 50 overs, let alone being at my best for the 50 overs.

“I felt like I was sort of letting the team down a little bit with how my body was reacting to the conditions.”

Glenn Maxwell (second from left) with teammates Xavier Doherty (far left), Mitch Marsh (centre), Aaron Finch (second from right) and Josh Hazlewood (far right) after winning the 2015 ICC Cricket World Cup against New Zealand at the MCG on March 29, 2015 (Photo by Ryan Pierse/Getty Images) Source: Getty Images

Regularly labelled “The Big Show” for his rare ability to change a match with bat, ball or in the field — much to his dismay — Maxwell was a key figure in Australia’s limited-overs success throughout the 2010s and early 2020s. His fast hands and ultra-aggressive nature made him a nightmare for opposition bowlers, and a genuine limited-overs trailblazer.

Maxwell is also widely regarded as one of Australia’s greatest ever fielders in the modern era, and also proved himself valuable with ball in hand by taking 77 wickets.

Maxwell’s ODI career ends with one of the more extraordinary stat lines, accumulating 3,990 runs at an average of 33.81 and a strike rate of 126.70. Countless moments on-field will go down in Australian cricketing folklore, but none will be more memorable than his double-century in Mumbai while battling cramps and injury, which alongside Pat Cummins, single-handedly rescued Australia from a historic upset loss against Afghanistan in the 2023 ODI World Cup.

“I had a really good chat with George Bailey while we were in a rain delay, and I asked him what his thoughts were going forward,” Maxwell continued on The Fnal World podcast.

“We basically talked about the 2027 (ODI) World Cup, and I said to him right then and there: ‘I don’t think I’m going to make that. I think it’s time to start planning for people in your position to have a crack at it and make that spot their own for the 2027 World Cup.

“I wasn’t going to hand my position over if I felt like I was still good enough to play.”

His retirement marks the end of a unique chapter in Australia’s ODI history, following the recent retirement of long-time teammates Steve Smith (March 2025), Marcus Stoinis (February 2025), Matthew Wade (October 2024) and David Warner (January 2024) in the format.

In recent years, Maxwell has battled multiple injuries, including a freak leg injury in 2022 that sidelined him for months. But even into his mid-30s, he remained a fixture in Australia’s strongest XI when fit, underlining his longevity and continued relevance.

Australia plays their next allotment of one-dayers in August, hosting South Africa in far-north Queensland across Cairns and Mackay.

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