New Zealand’s Lea Tahuhu Announces ODI Retirement After 103 Matches

On March 8, 2026, Lea Tahuhu, a fast bowler from New Zealand, announced her retirement from ODI cricket after a 15-year career.

The 35-year-old last played an ODI for the New Zealand women's national cricket team during the 2025 ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup in India. She was part of the team for more than 10 years and played over 100 ODI matches.

Her decision was communicated by the White Ferns in a post on X which was captioned, “Lea Tahuhu has called time on her 15-year ODI career.”

It is important to note that Lea Tahuhu made her ODI debut at the age of 20 against Australia women's national cricket team in Brisbane.

New Zealand pacer Lea Tahuhu announces ODI retirement

The 35-year-old finished her ODI career with 103 matches and became New Zealand’s all-time leading wicket-taker in ODIs with 125 wickets. She is also one of the 12 players to have played over 100 matches, along with four World Cups.

Confirming her decision to retire from the format, Tahuhu said as quoted in the press release, “It’s always been a privilege and honour to pull on the WHITE FERNS shirt in ODI cricket. To get one game was an amazing feeling. To have been able to wear the shirt and represent my country and my family over 100 times in ODI cricket is something I never could have dreamt of.” “I’ll treasure every moment and walk away from the ODI game incredibly proud of what I’ve been able to achieve in the format,” she further added.

Moreover, the Christchurch born further asserted to continue playing the shortest format. In her statement, she added, “There’s plenty of exciting things ahead and I’m looking forward to continuing to contribute to this team in the T20 format.” Looking back at the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2024 win, Tahuhu asserted, “Winning the T20 World Cup in 2024 was a huge achievement and I’m really motivated to be over in England later this year to help this team defend our title.”

Lea Tahuhu was known as one of the fastest bowlers in women’s cricket. She played in four ICC Women's Cricket World Cup tournaments, 2013, 2017, 2022, and 2025.

She took 36 wickets in these World Cups, which is the most by a New Zealand women's national cricket team bowler in the tournament.

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