Sean Terry retires at 26 to ‘start a new chapter’ in his life

Sean Terry, the 26-year-old Irish batsman, has announced his retirement from all forms of the game to “start a new chapter” in his life.

Terry, who has played for Hampshire and Northamptonshire as well as for Western Australia at the Under-19 level, was a part of the Leinster Lightning squad in the ongoing domestic tournaments in Ireland till last month.

Terry made his international debut in July 2016 in a one-day international against Afghanistan and ends his career with five ODI and one Twenty20 International appearances, in which he scored a total of 36 runs.

“It is with a heavy heart that I have decided to call time on my cricketing journey. Playing cricket for Ireland was undoubtedly the proudest moment of my life and something that I will always cherish. It is now time to start the next chapter of my life. Thanks to everyone at Cricket Ireland [CI] and Cricket Leinster for the opportunities and support they have given me,” said Terry in a statement to the CI website.

Interestingly, Terry also had a brush with Test cricket, turning out as a substitute in the third Test of India’s tour of England in 2014 and even taking a catch to dismiss Ajinkya Rahane.

Richard Holdsworth, the CI Performance Director, said he respected Terry’s decision but was disappointed about it.

“Earlier this year, Sean was included in our first round of full-time Inter-Provincial contracts – such was the esteem in which he was held by the selectors – so we were very sorry when Sean informed the Selectors and coaching staff of the decision to hang up his boots,” said Holdsworth.

“He was certainly part of our talent development pool and had already been capped in the white-ball game on six occasions. We identified Sean’s talents early and took every opportunity to integrate him into our player pathway programme as soon as he had declared for Ireland in 2016.

“We thought he had adapted well to the Irish set-up but, equally, we respect his decision, difficult as it must have been, and we wish him all the best with the next stage of his career outside of cricket.”

Terry’s father, Paul Terry, was also a prominent English cricketer, scoring 16,427 runs in 292 first-class matches, mainly for Hampshire. He also played two Test matches for England in 1984 with poor returns of 16 runs in three innings.