Reekers announces retirement

Darron Reekers, the Netherlands batsman, has announced his retirement from international cricket.

Reekers, a powerfully built allrounder from New Zealand, starred in Netherlands' stunning victory over England in the opening game of the ICC World Twenty20, cracking 20 from 13 balls. His side's journey came to a juddering halt when Pakistan reminded them of the gulf in class, beating them by 82 runs.

Reekers played for Canterbury and Otago in New Zealand before first coming to Hoofdklasse club Quick Haag as coach in 1998. He made his debut for Netherlands in 2001 with 53 in a C&G Trophy match against Norfolk. In all, he made 1773 runs at 24.97, taking 51 wickets at 30.22. He struck two hundreds for Netherlands, the first of which was made against Ireland in the 2007 World Cricket League, and smacked 196 off 107 balls against a poor Norwegian attack in the European Championships.

He will play one further match at his Dutch club before returning to his birthplace where he has been living this year.