Incricket, abatter mayretire from aninnings at any time when theball is dead; they must then be replaced by a teammate who has not beendismissed. The most common reason for retirement is if the batter becomesinjured or unwell, in which case they can resume their innings.
Retirement is covered by Law 25 of theLaws of Cricket,[1] which distinguishes between two types of retirement. If the batter is ill or injured they are consideredretired - not out and are permitted to return to batting if they recover. In all other cases the batter is consideredretired - out and may not return to the innings, unless the opposingcaptain offers an exemption. These two types of retirement are considered differently incricket statistics.
If abatting player becomes injured or falls ill (or some other exceptional circumstance forces them to leave the field), and they receive permission from theumpire, they may retirenot out. If the retired batter recovers before the end of the innings, they may resume batting, upon the dismissal or retirement of another batter. If they cannot return to batting by the end of the innings, e.g. if they have been taken to hospital for medical treatment, the batting side must close its innings once it isall out i.e. has only one batter who isnot out and not retired.[1] It is therefore possible for the innings to end despite the batting side only losing ninewickets (or fewer, if there are multiple retirements).
This situation is officially recorded on thescorecard as "retired - not out",[1] though the unofficial term "retired - hurt" is often used on broadcasts instead. The batter is considered 'not out' for statistical purposes e.g. when calculating abatting average.
If a batter retires for any other reason, or without the umpire's permission, they are considered to have forfeited their wicket and are thereforeout. Unless the opposing captain offers an exemption, the retired batters may not return. This situation is recorded on the scorecard as 'retired - out' and is considered a dismissal for statistical purposes, though is not credited to abowler.[1]
As of 2019, only two batters have retired out in atest match, and both instances occurred in the sameinnings:Sri Lankan battersMarvan Atapattu andMahela Jayawardene both retired out in a match againstBangladesh in 2001.[2][3] The decision was controversial, since they retired out to give the rest of the team batting practice, and this was considered unsporting.[4]
The only example in Test cricket of an opposing captain granting an exemption was forGordon Greenidge, during the fifth Test of the1982–83 India–West Indies series. Greenidge wasnot out on a score of 154 overnight (his highest score in Tests to that point), when he received news that his two-year-old daughter was critically ill. He retired and flew from Antigua to Barbados to visit the hospital where his daughter was being treated; she died two days later. Greenidge took no further part in the match. As a mark of respect, opposing Indian captainKapil Dev granted an exemption for Greenidge, and he was recorded as "retired not out".[5][6][7]
InTwenty20 (T20) cricket, teams sometimes retire a batter for purely tactical reasons, such as to switch left- and right-handed batters, though this practice has been controversial and lambasted as unsporting.[8] The first example at professional level was in a match betweenBhutan andMaldives at the2019 South Asian Games, whenSonam Tobgay of Bhutan retired out at the end of the 19th over.[9] In the2022 Indian Premier League,R Ashwin retired out while playing forRajasthan Royals againstLucknow Super Giants.[10][11] In June 2022, during the2022 T20 Blast match between theBirmingham Bears and theNotts Outlaws,Carlos Brathwaite (Birmingham Bears) andSamit Patel (Notts Outlaws) both retired out for tactical reasons.[12] During the group stage match between Namibia and England held atSir Vivian Richards Stadium in the2024 ICC Men's T20 World Cup, Namibia'sNiko Davin became the first batter to be dismissed retired out in a T20 World Cup match. Davin who came in as the opening batsman for Namibia in the run chase, then announced himself that he was leaving the field during the 6th over of the Namibian innings while he was still batting with an unbeaten score of 18 runs off 16 balls. Namibia were left to chase a revised target of 126 runs in 10 overs in a rain-curtailed match, and as a result, he made himself retire out considering the circumstances Namibia were reeling at and to make a case for another batter to capitalize on the required run rate in order to score runs in a quick manner.[13]