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Katherine Brunt, an English bowler, has declared her retirement from county cricket.

The 37-year-old will participate in this summer’s Hundred but not for the Northern Diamonds or Yorkshire despite being selected for England’s T20 World Cup squad next month.

Due to an increasingly demanding international schedule, Brunt has hardly played for her home county in recent seasons and has not played county cricket since 2019.

She stated on Yorkshire’s official website that she had participated in a few games over the past few seasons, but only two or three at most every year due to the constraints of the schedule.

She has occasionally only played as a batter when she was injured or otherwise not at full strength. However, even when she was perfectly well, it was only for two or three games.

When there is so much good young talent in that Diamonds setup, she does not want to take someone’s spot on the team and would not believe that is fair.

Brunt stated that she does not want to hold back those girls just because a new player joins the team in need of practice.

This makes it difficult for a coach to train the young players who will be needed in the finals while she is unavailable.

At the age of 19, Brunt played her first Test against New Zealand in August 2004. Twelve months later, in her third Test, she helped England win an Ashes series outright for the first time in 42 years with a nine-wicket performance against Australia.

The Barnsley-born bowler finished the Ashes Test last winter with match stats of 8 for 84 and her third five-wicket haul in Test cricket. She has decided to hang up her whites after failing to prevent Australia from winning the multi-format series decisively.

Brunt, whose Test career is the 10th-longest in women’s cricket history, was a crucial component of England’s 50-over World Cup victories in 2009 and 2017. When England defeated New Zealand at Lord’s by six wickets in the 2009 World T20 final, she was named player of the match.

Katherine’s dedication and enthusiasm were never clearer than when she played Test cricket, according to Jonathan Finch, director of England Women’s Cricket. She has sacrificed a great deal for England, and we totally back her choice to concentrate on white-ball cricket at the international level.