Scotland cricketer Calum MacLeod announced his international retirement on November 5, 2022.
Calum MacLeod Announced International Retirement
His first ODI cap came in the historic match against England on 18 August 2008 where he scored 10 not out from 11 balls. In 2010, MacLeod was one of six cricketers given full-time contracts with Cricket Scotland.
“Having announced my retirement to the team a few days ago, I’m sitting here thinking back to what inspired me in the first place and that would be the Scotland versus Australia game at the 1999 World Cup,” MacLeod recalled in a statement.
“I remember watching that and thinking ‘that is what I want to do’ and it lit a fire inside me to go on and do everything I could to play for Scotland.”
He has played county cricket in England for Warwickshire and Durham. In January 2019, MacLeod was named the ICC Associate Player of the Year at the 2018 ICC Awards.
“Finishing after this World Cup in Australia has been tough because we didn’t manage to achieve what we wanted to achieve, but I leave the group with a real sense of hope that, with the right backing and the right opportunities, the current team can really go far and can inspire many,” MacLeod said.
“My career with Scotland has been filled with some real highs and a few lows, I feel extremely fortunate to have played for my country 229 times. It was something that I never took for granted and it was a huge honour and a privilege. I hope I have entertained a few people along the way and, ultimately, I feel like I am leaving the team in a better place than when I started this amazing journey.”
In November 2020, MacLeod was nominated for the ICC Men’s Associate Cricketer of the Decade award. In September 2021, MacLeod was named in Scotland’s provisional squad for the 2021 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup.
MacLeod announced his retirement from international cricket on 31 October 2022, a few days after Scotland faced a first-round exit.
“I am Incredibly sad to see his career end particularly in the fashion it did with us bowing out of the World Cup in the first round as it would not have been how Calum would have wanted,” Head coach Shane Burger said.
“For me personally, Calum leaves a great legacy behind him in not only the runs he scored including ten ODI hundreds, but also his desire to put in performances in the earlier part of his career when he was a bowler and had to transition into a batter. He is an incredibly talented sportsman, a fantastic fielder, a real fighter and someone who would front up when it was required.”
Calum MacLeod has played 87 ODI matches and 64 T20Is and scored 3024 runs and 1239 runs during his career span.
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