Shane Watson: Australia all-rounder announces international retirement

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Shane Watson: Australia all-rounder announces international retirement
Shane Watson has the highest one-day international score by an Australian

Australia all-rounder Shane Watson will retire from all international cricket after the World Twenty20 in India.

Watson won 190 one-day international caps, scoring 5,757 runs at an average of 40.54 and taking 168 wickets at 31.79 apiece.

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The 34-year-old has played in 56 T20 internationals and is in Australia’s squad to face Pakistan on Friday.

Watson, who retired from Tests in 2015, is the only Australian to have scored centuries in all forms of the game.

He will continue to play in domestic T20 tournaments, including the Big Bash.

“Shane should be proud of his contribution to Australian cricket,” Cricket Australia chief executive James Sutherland said.

“To be bracketed with [former captain] Steve Waugh as Australia’s most prolific batting all-rounder in Test and one-day cricket is a very significant statement about his international career.”

A powerful batsman and seam bowler, Watson, who made his ODI debut in 2002, has the highest score in that format by an Australian – 185 against Bangladesh in 2011.

Twice a winner of the Allan Border Medal as Australian player of the year, he featured in three World Cups and was part of the Australian sides which triumphed in the 2007 and 2015 tournaments.

He has also appeared in all six World T20s and was player of the tournament in 2012.

Watson retired from Tests following last summer’s Ashes series in England having won 59 caps, scoring 3,731 runs at 35.19 and taking 75 wickets at 33.68.

He captained his country in one Test in India in 2013.