SYDNEY: Australia’s most-capped female player and vice-captain Alex Blackwell was hailed as a “tremendous leader” in the women’s game after announcing her retirement from international and state cricket on Monday. Blackwell, 34, made her debut for Australia in a one-day international against England in 2003, and went on to play 251 matches across all three formats for her country. She became just the fourth female Australian to pass 5,000 runs when she batted in the Test, Twenty20 and One-Day arenas, compiling 5,250 runs. “Alex has been a wonderful servant to Australian cricket, and a tremendous leader both at national and international level, and we congratulate her on an outstanding career that has spanned more than 16 years,” Cricket Australia chief executive James Sutherland said in a statement. Blackwell, who led Australia to victory at the ICC Twenty20 World Cup in the West Indies in 2010, was also a member of Australias World T20 winning sides in 2012 and 2014 and has two World Cup trophies from 2005 and 2013. “What I’m most proud of is probably my ability to continue to evolve as a batter, particularly with the introduction of T20 cricket,” she told reporters. “Just my constant pursuit of personal excellence and mastery of batting, which continues. And I guess what I am also proud of is my part that I’ve played in an organisation that has really led on issues such as diversity and inclusion and gender equity.” Blackwell said she would continue to play for the Sydney Thunder in the women’s Big Bash League. Published in Daily Times, February 20th 2018.