Former Australia all-rounder Moises Henriques has decided to switch allegiance to Portugal in a bid to help the qualify for the T20 World Cup 2028. Born on Portuguese island of Madeira, Henriques is eligible to play for Portugal as his last international appearance was in August 2021.
Henriques was born in Portugal but moved to Australia as a baby. He is only second Portugal-born player to play Test cricket since South Africa's Dick Westscott.
As per the International Cricket Council (ICC), a player has to serve a mandatory three-year-stand-down period before switching from a full member nation to an associate nation. He will be seen in action when Portugal begin their European sub-regional qualifier campaign in Finland.
As many as two teams will qualify from Europe outside the existing eight and four others as per ICC rankings. Henriques would look to represent Portugal in ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2028 which will be held in New Zealand and Australia.
Henriques’ international career
Henriques made his white-ball debut for Australia in 2009. In 2013, he made his Test debut against India, scoring a couple of half-centuries in Chennai in a losing cause. He played just four Tests before falling off the radar. He played 16 ODIs and 24 T20Is. In T20Is, he scored 355 runs, averaging 20.88, including two fifties. With the ball, he took seven wickets in T20Is. In ODIs, he averaged nine with bat from 15 innings. He has eight wickets in the ODIs, including a three-fer.
Henriques, a serial trophy-winner
In the T20 arena, Henriques has won three Big Bash League titles. His first BBL title was in the inaugural edition of 2011-12. As captain of Sixers, he won the 2019-20 and 2020-21 editions of BBL as well. As a player, he was part of David Warner-led Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) Indian Premier League (IPL) 2016 team which beat Virat Kohli-led Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) in the final.
Before the BBL came into existence, he won the domestic T20 Big Bash 2008-09 season as player. In the now-defunct Champions League T20, he won the 2009 and 2012 editions with New South Wales and Sydney Sixers respectively.
In addition, he has three Australia domestic One-Day Cup titles and one Sheffield Shield title with New South Wales.
Henriques’ T20 numbers
Henriques has played 301 T20s so far, scoring 5,746 runs, averaging 26.48, including 27 fifties. His strike rate is 127.25. The pacer has 120 wickets at an average of 29.18. The 29-year-old's economy rate is 8.21 runs per over.