Veteran Hodge calls time on cricket
Brad Hodge's 24-year professional cricket career is over.
Hodge, who debuted for Victoria back in 1993-94, has declared his latest season with the Melbourne Renegades was his last in the BBL at age 43 and he will no longer travel overseas to play.
"This will be the end of the road," Hodge told News Corp Australia.
"I'll represent (Melbourne club) East Sandringham in the finals and that will be it for my cricket career."
Hodge played his last of six Tests for Australia in 2008 and last represented Victoria in the Sheffield Shield a year later, spending the past eight years as a Twenty20 specialist.
In that time he has played for no less than 13 franchises, amassing the sixth most runs in T20 history with 7406 at an average of 36.84.
However it came to an unexpected early end last month when he underwent surgery on a burst appendix, ruling him out of the Renegades' semi-final loss to Adelaide on Friday.
History will likely remember Hodge as being unlucky not to earn more Test caps, playing in a golden era of Australian cricketers.
The fifth highest run-scorer in the 125-year history of the Sheffield Shield, Hodge's 10,474 runs for Victoria came at an average of 45.34 and earned him a Test debut against the West Indies in 2005.
He scored a half-century on debut, and turned his maiden hundred into an unbeaten double ton against South Africa just two Tests later in Perth.
However less than a month later he found himself on the scrap heap and questioning selectors, destined to only ever play one more Test despite finishing with an average of 55.88.
The right-hander also featured in Australia's 2007 World Cup success among his 25 50-over matches for his country, while he played his last match in national colours during the 2014 World T20.
In total, he scored a remarkable 33,617 runs in 751 top-flight domestic and international cricket matches across all three formats of the game.
BRAD HODGE'S REMARKABLE CRICKET CAREER
* 503 runs at 55.88 in six Tests between 2005 and 2008 for Australia.
* Played 25 ODIs and 15 T20s for Australia, compiling 575 runs and 183 in each respective format.
* Fifth highest run-scorer in the history of the Sheffield Shield, with 10,474 runs at 45.34.
* Totalled 17,084 runs across 223 first-class matches, with 51 centuries.
* Sixth most runs in Twenty20 history, with 7406 across 277 matches at an average of 36.84.
* Represented Australia, Adelaide Strikers, Auckland, Barisal, Duhram, Guyana, Kochi, Kolkata, Lancashire, Leicestershire, Melbourne Renegades, Northern Districts, Peshawar, Rajasthan, St Kitts and Nevis, Victoria and Wellington.
