Matt Horne announces retirement

Former Black Cap opener Matt Horne has announced his retirement from first-class cricket, which brings a 14 year career to an end.

Horne played 35 Test matches and 50 one-day internationals. He last played for New Zealand in May 2003 in the second Test against Sri Lanka in Kandy where he scored 1 and 27.

Horne had a disappointing international career in averaging only 28.38 in Tests and 20.41 in one-day international cricket.

Horne’s career highlights in Tests was his 157 against Zimbabwe in 1997/98, where he helped lead New Zealand to an innings and 12 run victory, along with scoring 670 runs at an average of 44.66 in helping the Black Caps record their 2-1 series victory over England in 1999.

It was at first-class level where he had the most success in finishing with a career average of 40.87 with 24 hundreds and 33 fifties. Horne ended his career with scores of 5* and 26 in Auckland’s four victory over Otago in the State Championship earlier this year.