Trending

Australian pacer with 410 wickets announces retirement from cricket after stellar First-Class career

New South Wales pacer Trent Copeland on March 04 called quits on his glittering career that spanned around one-and-a-half decades.

SportsTak

• Sun • 05 Mar 2023

New South Wales pacer Trent Copeland on March 04 called quits on his glittering career that spanned around one-and-a-half decades. Copeland played three Test matches for Australia but will be remembered for his immense contribution to Australia's domestic cricket. A force to be reckoned with, the soon to be 37-year-old evolved as a true stalwart of Sheffield Shield cricket (Australia's premier red-ball domestic tournament).

"It's one of those things where it's probably been coming for a little while," Copeland said.

"Thinking at the start of the season, would it be my last year? I'm about to turn 37. It's probably time when I handed the reins over to some of the younger boys.

"I'm incredibly proud of what I've achieved but also what my family and certainly my wife and kids have allowed me to achieve through their support. I'm very lucky," he added.

Copeland played three Test matches for Australia and finished with six wickets to his name. All his three matches came against Sri Lanka. With the Josh Hazlewood, Pat Cummins and Mitchell Starc, the lanky pacer fell out of the pecking order when it came to his selection in Australia's squad,

Copeland continued to dominate Australia's red-ball dominate and finishes as the 11th leading wicket-taker in Sheffield Shield competition. The right-arm paceman bagged 410 wickets in 112 matches at an average of 25.65, including 21 five-fers and three 10-wicket hauls.

Copeland is now looking forward to commentating while he also has aspirations of becoming a coach one day.

"I'll finish playing as of right now but I'm still going to be very much involved with Seven's cricket commentary team, sitting in the best seat in the house at all the best venues watching the best cricket so I'll be heavily involved there," Copeland said.

"My ambitions post-cricket are certainly to either be involved in a coaching capacity or administratively as well. So what that looks like I don't know. But I'm going to sit at home with [wife] Kim and the kids and have a bit of family time," he added.