Neil Wagner, a veteran New Zealand bowler, has retired from international cricket after 64 Tests, finishing as the country’s fifth-highest wicket-taker with 260 scalps. Wagner was named to the squad for the two-match Test series against Australia, which begins in Wellington on Thursday, March 29. But the left-arm pacer was informed by selectors that he would not play in either the first or second match in Christchurch.
He will be released from the squad before the second Test in Christchurch. This marks his retirement from international cricket, leaving a legacy of 260 Test wickets, ranking him seventh on New Zealand’s all-time list. Furthermore, Wagner’s remarkable strike rate of 52.7 is surpassed only by the legendary Sir Richard Hadlee amongst New Zealanders with 100 Test wickets or more.
Wagner moved to Dunedin in 2008 to play domestic cricket for Otago after growing up in South Africa. Later, in 2018, he relocated to Papamoa to play for the Northern Districts. Wagner’s Test debut came against the West Indies at North Sound in 2012, and he achieved his career-best figures of 7 for 39 against the same opposition five years later in a Test in Wellington.
Wagner announced his retirement during a press conference held at the Basin Reserve in Wellington, accompanied by New Zealand’s head coach and selector, Gary Stead. Wagner clarified that while he intends to play first-class cricket, he believes the moment has arrived to bid adieu to Test matches. Wagner also played a crucial role in helping the Black Caps to win the inaugural ICC World Test Championship title, picking up three wickets to beat India by eight wickets in Southampton in 2021.
It’s been an emotional week, the South Africa-born cricketer said. It’s not easy to step away from something you’ve given so much to and got so much out of, but it’s now time for others to step up and take this team forward, he stated. They sometimes say when you think about retirement, you’re screwed in a way. I thought it was the right time to step down and let the other guys come in and do what we’ve been doing as a group for several years and grow that attack, he added.
It’s never easy. It’s an emotional road. It’s a big roller coaster, but it’s the time to pass that baton on and leave that Black Cap in a good place for the rest to take it and hopefully grow their legacy forward, Wagner concluded.
