Scotland's Kyle Coetzer announces retirement from T20I cricket

It is the season of retirements in international cricket and the latest to join the queue is former Scotland skipper Kyle Coetzer. The 38-year-old right-handed batter, on Thursday, called time on his T20I career with immediate effect.

Coetzer captained Scotland in the last edition of the T20 World Cup in the UAE, where the European nation made it to the Super-12s. However, he endured a poor campaign with the bat, averaging just 12 at a strike rate of touch over 100.

Last month, Coetzer handed over the leadership duties to Richie Berrington. And, on Thursday, he announced that he will be stepping aside from the format altogether in order to give other players an opportunity to cement their place ahead of the upcoming T20 World Cup in Australia.

"After considered discussions with Cricket Scotland and the head coach, the team would gain more from someone else playing in the upcoming T20 fixtures and the subsequent T20 World Cup. It was a pleasure to take part and lead my country in the previous World Cup and help Scotland qualify for this year. It was a real driving force for me to continue helping the team in any way that I could," Coetzer said via an official statement on Thursday (July 21).

Coetzer further added that his decision makes sense from both personal as well as teams' point-of-view

"From a personal point of view, I am looking forward to having a bit more time to spend with my family with two young daughters while also focusing on my coaching career and having more time for that. But ultimately, it is about what is best for the direction of the team going forward." he added.

Coetzer represented Scotland in 70 T20Is, scoring 1495 runs at an average of 22.65 and a strike rate of 119.21 with six 50+ scores.