Ireland all-rounder Kevin O’Brien announces retirement from international cricket

Kevin O’Brien had hoped to make his last hoorah for the nation in the T20 World Cup later this year.

Irish all-rounder and cult hero Kevin O’Brien announced his retirement from International cricket on Tuesday (August 16) afternoon. The announcement was made via the player’s official Twitter account, where he posted a note thanking his coaches, family, wife, and fans for their incredible support throughout his international career.

Kevin O’Brien has been one of the longest-serving Irish cricketers, featuring for the side in 266 matches across all formats during a 16-year years tenure with the national team. The belligerent batter revealed in his post that he was considering retirement post the T20 World Cup in Australia later this year. Still, because of his omission from the Irish T20 squad since last year’s embarrassing World Cup campaign, he decided to call it quits prematurely.

Ireland were subjected to a humiliating defeat to Namibia in their last outing in the ICC T20 World Cup 2021. Incidentally, that was the last time the Irish all-rounder featured for the team. He is the only Irish cricketer to hit a Test ton to date and is the third highest run-getter for the nation in 50-over cricket with 3619 runs to his name along with 114 wickets.

Kevin O’Brien rose to fame after a memorable evening at Chinnaswamy in 2011

Kevin, the younger brother of former Irish cricketer Niall O’Brien, played alongside his brother for the majority of his career before the latter decided to hang up his boots in 2018. The 38-year-old is the country’s second-highest run-getter in the game’s shortest format, behind Paul Stirling, having registered 1973 runs for the Men in Green. His prolific tally of 729 runs in T20Is in 2019 is the fourth highest by a batter in a calendar year.

The all-rounder registered two centuries in his ODI career, with one of those being arguably the best innings by an Irish batter ever as he slew the English bowlers in a memorable World Cup clash in 2011. The Bengaluru crowd witnessed the fastest century in World Cup history as the Irishman blazed 113 off just 63 deliveries to stun England asIreland defeated them by three wickets in a thrilling encounter.