New Zealand’s Will Somerville to retire from professional cricket

Off-spinner Will Somerville, who has represented New Zealand in six Test matches, has confirmed that he will be retiring at the end of the ongoing domestic season, with his final game being Auckland’s last Plunket Shield match of the season against Central Districts, starting April 01.

The 38-year-old, who has 156 first-class wickets to his name, is the second Kiwi veteran to announce his retirement in as many months, with Todd Astle calling it quits last month.

"I've achieved more than what I thought I could achieve after becoming a professional cricketer at 30-years old," Somerville said. 

"I've played nine seasons professionally and loved every minute of it."

Somerville made his first-class debut 19 years ago representing Otago, but then moved to Australia where, after a six-year hiatus, he began playing for New South Wales. For the Blues, across four seasons, he took 48 wickets at an average of 25.3.

He returned to New Zealand in 2018 and had a stellar year, taking 19 first-class wickets at an average of 23.9, and his showing led to a call-up to the Test side. He made his Test debut in the decider of New Zealand's three-Test series against Pakistan in the UAE and the debut proved to be a memorable one as his match-figures of 7/127 helped the BlackCaps script a famous victory and win the series.

New Zealand playing on seam-friendly wickets in Tests back home meant that opportunities were few and far between and he only added five more Tests to his tally, the last of the five coming against India at the Wankhede in 2021.