Adam Voges calls it time on his international career

Australian batsman Adam Voges popular for his Bradmanesque batting average after being out of favour in Tests has probably made the decision to hang his boots from international cricketer. He is all set to lead the Australian Prime Minister’s XI team against Sri Lanka in a tour game in Canberra tomorrow and ahead of the match, Voges has indirectly said that it will be his last international match.

He hasn’t featured in the Australian Test team since he was dropped from the team after the first two Tests against South Africa in November. He then suffered concussion during a Sheffield Shield match playing for his domestic side Western Australia against Tasmania. The selectors made a bold decision to make as many as 5 changes in the squad for the last Test of the series at Adelaide.

It was Peter Handscomb who took Voges’ spot in the team and has scored 2 hundreds and 2 half centuries in his 4 Test career to aggregate 399 runs with an average of 99.75. Talking ahead of the match against Sri Lanka Voges said, “This will be it for me. I’m certainly looking forward to getting out there and playing this game. I’ve had an amazing couple of years with Australia with the Test team and I’ve loved every minute of it.

“I see this as a last opportunity to play against an international team and I’m certainly looking forward to that.” Voges added.

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The 37-year-old made his Test debut in June 2015 against West Indies and scored a century in his very first outing at the Windsor Park to become the oldest debutant to score a hundred. Voges featured in the Aussie squad for the next few series despite ordinary results but stunned most with scoring two double centuries against West Indies. After 15 Tests the right-hander had an average of 95.50 second only to the great Don Bradman.

It came crashing down to 61.87 as Voges and the entire Australian team failed on the tour of Sri Lanka. Once he was excluded from the team against South Africa it was considered that the 37-year olds international career is all but over. Though individually he had a great high recently leading the Perth Scorchers side to their third Big Bash League title this season but his time at the international level seems to have elapsed.