Aussie women’s cricket skipper Fields retires

SYDNEY: World Cup-winning captain Jodie Fields, whose toughness steeled Australia for its recent successes and the path towards professionalism, has retired from international cricket.

Fields overcame horrific hamstring injuries – she twice ripped the tendons from the bone – to captain her country to the World Twenty20 title in 2012 and the 50-over crown the following year. A wicketkeeper and stoic middle-order bat, she brought a professional approach to the Southern Stars well before she and her teammates were paid as professionals.

Over the past 12 months, Fields has been dogged by illness and injury; appendicitis and a broken thumb that caused her to miss most of last summer's Ashes.

Women play so few Tests that Fields played only four of them during her eight years at the top level. But she played 67 ODIs and 37 Twenty20 internationals.

Meg Lanning was promoted to the captaincy in Fields' absence and made a breathtaking start, leading Australia to its third consecutive World Twenty20 title in Bangladesh.