Former World Cup winning Australian captain Aaron Finch has announced his retirement from the Big Bash League following an injury-riddled season with the Melbourne Renegades.
The 37-year-old, who represented his nation in all three formats during a decade-long international stint that began in 2011, called time on his representative career with Australia last February.
An aggressive and outstanding opener, particularly in T20 and one-day cricket, the record-breaking batter captained Australia to its maiden T20 World Cup in Dubai in 2021.
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A captain of the Melbourne Renegades for nine consecutive seasons, he led the franchise to the BBL title in the eighth season of the competition in typically brilliant and audacious fashion.
Finch told Fox Cricket ahead of the Renegades clash against the Hobart Hurricanes at Marvel Stadium on Thursday night that it was time to say goodbye to cricket in Australia.
“I’m just getting old! When you look around the competition and our side in particular, there are some great young players coming through,” he said.
“I think now is the right time.”
“I think there’s always a little part of that (injury) as you get a little bit older … but it’s something I’ve been thinking about for a little bit as well.
“I wanted to give it as good a crack as I could this year. It’s all good, I’m happy.”
Finch is hopeful he might be fit enough to play a farewell match in the home derby against the Melbourne Stars next Saturday, scored 3311 runs for the Renegades, which is second only to Chris Lynn across the history of the competition.
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From Colac in regional Victoria, Finch was a member of the World Cup winning ODI team in 2015 and also played five Tests for Australia, scoring two half-centuries.
It was in short-form cricket where he truly made his mark.
Finch was awarded the T20 Player of the Year Award at the Allan Border Medal in 2014, a year after he became the first cricketer to score more than 150 runs in the format when blasting 156 from 63 balls against England in Southampton.
The Victorian was also nominated for the ICC T20 Team of the Decade in 2020.
He scored more than 5400 runs for Australia in 146 ODIs at an average of 38.89, recording 17 centuries, and a further 3120 runs in 103 T20 outings for his nation, which included two tons, at 34.28.
Melbourne Renegades head coach David Saker praised Finch, who was among the few remaining players from the initial BBL in 2008 still on a club roster.
“Finchy has been an outstanding servant with the Renegades,” he said.
“It’s such a rare feat in the Big Bash to spend your career at one club. Everything that’s been successful with the Renegades, Finchy has had everything to do with it.
“I first coached Finchy when he captained Victoria’s Under-19s and I’ve seen him develop as a leader and person.
“He’s a unique type of leader (who is) very tactically aware, while he bases a lot of his decisions on gut feel, and that’s a courageous thing to do out in the field.”
Finch last played in the Indian Premier League with the Kolkata Knight Riders in 2022 and spent almost 15 years with different franchises in the lucrative competition.
