Ireland's Peter Chase announces international retirement

DUBLIN – Irish international Peter Chase announced his international retirement on June 9, bringing to a close an eight-year career.

Chase, 28, made his international debut for Ireland in a List A match against Sri Lanka A in 2014 and made 43 appearances for the Men in Green. The medium-fast seamer captured 60 wickets, with a best of 4-35 against India during a memorable spell at his home club ground of Malahide during a T20I in 2018 (during that two-match series Chase dismissed Virat Kohli twice – capturing 5 wickets at an average of 15.4).

Chase was a regular member of the Leinster Lightning side that dominated the Inter-Provincial Series over the last nine years (taking 86 wickets across 54 matches for the province), and played for Durham County Cricket Club, making his first-class debut for the county side in August 2014 claiming taking 11 wickets in three games – including a five-wicket haul on debut against Nottinghamshire.

Speaking about his retirement, Chase said:

“After suffering a year-long injury during 2021, I was excited and motivated for the 2022 season. However, during the recent tour to Namibia, I suffered another season-ending injury during only my third game back, which was a tough one to take. I love representing Ireland, and I pride myself on my work ethic and resilience, however, I have been unable to play over the past two seasons. With the likelihood of no representative cricket for another year due to this injury, I feel it is the right time to move on and start something new.

“I am so proud to have been able to represent Ireland and I have loved every second of it. I got to live out a childhood dream and travel the world playing the game I love with my friends.

“There are numerous memories and experiences of playing for Ireland that I will cherish, but the one that really sticks out for me are the games against India at a sold-out Malahide. To perform well at my home ground in front of my friends and family was surreal. I will never forget walking into the clubhouse after that first game. The reaction was crazy. If you didn’t know the result, you would have thought Ireland had won the game! Getting to experience that moment with my family and friends was special.

“There are many people to thank for helping me throughout this journey. Firstly, I would like to thank my parents Karl and Hilary, my brother Simon and my partner Marita. Without your sacrifices, I would not have been able to fulfil this dream. I will be forever grateful for your support. I owe a lot to so many coaches and I thank everyone who has contributed to my career. I thank Richard Holdsworth, Phil Simmons, John Bracewell and Graham Ford for giving me the opportunity to represent my country, and Brían O’Rourke for helping me to kickstart my career in Durham. In particular, I would like to thank Pete Johnston for his help and guidance through some particularly challenging times. I thank Cricket Ireland for the privilege and honour of representing my country, and my teammates for helping me to create memories I will never forget.

“Although this has been a very tough decision, I am excited about the opportunities that await. Having now completed my Masters, I am exploring professional options within the corporate world, and I am looking forward to starting this new journey.

“Finally, I would like to wish Heinrich, Andrew and all the players every success for the future. I look forward to watching on as a fan, and I will always be backing green.”

Andrew Balbirnie, Ireland Men’s captain, said:

“I’m obviously very disappointed to hear the news about Peter – he’s gone through a tough time with this injury, and he’s worked hard to get back to where he wants to be. He’s been the model professional in the way he has gone about his rehab and strength & conditioning over the years, but he’s just not been able to get the game time that he’s wanted.

“Whenever he played for Ireland he put his heart and soul into it, and was always a dependable player for us, and we’ll be sad to see him walk away. We know that whatever he does in the next step of his career he’ll be successful, and I wish him all the best on behalf of the whole squad.”

Leinster Lightning captain and international teammate, George Dockrell, said:

“Chaser has been a great competitor and I’m glad I got to play alongside him from the Under-19 World Cup, through to Leinster Lightning, to all the Irish games we played together. He’s been incredibly professional all through that time especially through injuries and setbacks and I’ve no doubt with that attitude he’ll succeed with whatever comes next for him.”

High Performance Director for Cricket Ireland, Richard Holdsworth, said:

“It’s a sad day when a senior player makes a decision like this, but we wish him well as he moves into the next stage in his life. Since the day Peter came into the senior set-up back in 2014, he has been a model professional, not only was he a popular member of the squad, but earned a reputation as a hard trainer, and a consistent and whole-hearted performer. It’s true that he dealt with several injuries over his career that almost certainly restricted the caps he may potentially have earned, but even during such challenging times he was as meticulously dedicated to his rehab and recovery as he was with his training and playing.

“One aspect of Peter’s career that wasn’t seen publicly was his determination to also follow an education path in tandem with his professional cricket career. He completed his degree and Masters while juggling his cricket commitments, and we were fully supportive on allowing the flexibility to achieve this. He has also been involved with the Irish Cricketers’ Association in recent times, and we look forward to his ongoing involvement as he stays in the game post-international career.

“While his latest injury is not career-ending in nature, we are pleased to hear that Peter will continue to work towards a return to club cricket, and still make himself available for Inter-Provincial cricket if the opportunity arises.

“On behalf of all at Cricket Ireland we thank Peter for his work and commitment and wish him well for what comes next.”