Former Australian wicketkeeper Peter Nevill on Friday announced his retirement from all forms of professional cricket after playing for 13 years at the top level.
The 36-year-old, who represented Australia in 17 Tests and nine T20Is, played his last international cricket in 2016. Since then, he has had a record-breaking career with New South Wales.
He retires having captained the Blues in 43 Shield matches, more than any other player in history, and as one of just four men to have played more than 100 Shield matches for NSW. However, Nevill hasn’t been on the field since February this year with a shoulder injury ending his season prematurely for New South Wales.
The wicketkeeper holds the record for the most catches for his state at 310 and is second on the Blues’ all-time dismissal list behind Phil Emery. He played in two Shield titles and two Marsh Cup titles with New South Wales, leading them to their last Shield triumph in 2019/20 which was won in unusual circumstances.
“I always knew that I was close to the end of my career. It was a frustrating season for me, I think I’ve missed more games this season due to injury than the rest of my career combined. I’m very proud that I was able to play for Australia, and that I was able to play for such a long time for New South Wales,” said Nevill.
“I’d like to think that I was able to squeeze as much juice out of my orange as I could. For a bloke with minimal talent and no shots, I leave the game pretty content,” he added.
Nevill played 17 Tests for Australia during a transition period in 2015/16. He replaced Brad Haddin for the Lord’s Test on the 2015 Ashes tour. He played 17 consecutive matches and kept impressively throughout but averaged just 22.28 with the bat and made only three half-centuries, which belied his first-class batting record, given he finished with 5,927 runs at 36.81 and 10 first-class centuries.
The wicket-keeper lost his place to Matthew Wade in the selection purge that followed Australia’s disastrous loss to South Africa in Hobart.
“I’d say (I was) someone who got the most out of the ingredients they had. I’ve been fortunate to have played for as long as I have. It is hard to condense (my career) into something short and sweet,” the Australian said.
“However, there are the opportunities I’ve had, the experiences, the people I’ve met, being able to travel the world, the ups, and downs. Something that stands out is the very special people I’ve met, and there was no shortage of them at the Blues (NSW),” he added.
Nevill will spend time with his family but has expressed an interest in doing some coaching after a brief coaching/playing stint with Melbourne Stars during the recent BBL.
