Adam Voges set to retire after captaining Prime Minister’s XI next month

Western Australia captain Adam Voges has resigned to the fact that his international career is all but over as Australian team management has been focussing on rebuilding the Test team with youth. The 37-year-old last played for Australia in the opening two Tests of the Australian summer against the Proteas before a concussion on the field ruled him out of the final Test in Adelaide.

He was struck on the head by a lethal bouncer in a Sheffield Shield game which left him dizzy for a few days. Even without the injury, Voges would have found it difficult to make it to the squad for the final Test after a series of failures which saw Australia losing 5 consecutive Tests.

Voges came into the international reckoning only in 2015 and eventually made his Test debut against the Caribbeans. For the next 18 months, Voges showed everyone what he was capable of. 5 centuries in 15 Tests almost took his average to an incredible 100. But since then things dried up and Voges started to fail. But still, he will end his Test career with a staggering average of 61.87 from 20 Tests, just behind Donald Bradman in terms of average.

After losing the opening two Tests against South Africa, the Australian team management has successfully employed the youth policy and have won 4 straight games since then. Voges too knows that age is not by his side and he is bound to be replaced by a youngster considering his lacklustre performances of late.

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“I’m realistic enough to understand my performances weren’t up to scratch in my last few Tests and we lost those games which mean there is always going to be changed,” the veteran batsman was quoted as saying by the Cricbuzz on Tuesday (January 17). “It’s always disappointing to get dropped or left out of the side, but there was only one person to blame and that was me.”

A late bloomer, Voges said that he was proud of his achievements after receiving a belated Test call up eventually in 2015. “Being such a late starter it was good to get an opportunity at all because two years ago I probably thought I was never going to play Test cricket,” he said. “So to be able to play 20 Test matches and get that baggy green I worked so hard for over a long period of time is something I’ll look back on very fondly when it all finishes up.”

Voges is all set to play to play his final match next month when he goes out to captain the Prime Minister’s XI against Sri Lanka. Voges will lead the likes of former greats Ricky Ponting, Brett Lee, Mike Hussey and Chris Rogers. It’s a tremendous honour to be selected to captain the Prime Minister’s XI and captain alongside the likes of past greats including Brett Lee, Mike Hussey, Ricky Ponting and Chris Rogers,” he said.

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