Former Scotland skipper Kyle Coetzer announces retirement from T20 International

Former Scotland captain Kyle Coetzer announced his retirement from T20 cricket on Friday. Coetzer recently resigned from the captaincy after the ICC Cricket World Cup League 2 tri-series match against the United Arab Emirates.

ICC Men’s Associate Cricketer of the Decade, Coetzer has also now decided to step back from the shortest format of the game. He captained Scotland in the 2021 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup in UAE and Oman.

On his decision to retire, Coetzer said in a statement, “I have made this decision only after consultation with Cricket Scotland and the head coach. In the upcoming T20 series and the subsequent T20 World Cup, someone else would be playing in my place.”

It was a pleasure to participate in the last World Cup and lead my country and help Scotland qualify for this year. It was a real driving force for me to continue helping the team in any way I could. Coetzer further added that he is looking forward to spending more time with his family.

Coetzer added that from a personal standpoint, I’m looking forward to spending a little more time with my family to spend time with my two young daughters and focus on my coaching career.

Moreover, Coetzer played 70 T20Is for Scotland, scoring 1495 runs with 6 fifties. He led Scotland in 41 of those matches. In which he registered 20 victories for his team.

However, Scotland will also host New Zealand for two T20Is. Scotland has announced an 18-man squad for the series, which will start with T20 on July 27. All matches will be played in Edinburgh.

Scotland’s team

Richie Berrington (c), Matthew Cross (wk), Kyle Coetzer, Ali Evans, Chris Greaves, Oliver Heyers, Michael Jones, Michael Leask, Callum McLeod, Gavin Maine, Chris McBride, George Munsey, Adrian Neal, Safyan Sharif, Chris Soul, Hamza Tahir, Craig Wallace, Mark Watts