Scotland captain Preston Mommsen announces international retirement

Scotland captain Preston Mommsen has retired from international cricket and plans a new career away from the sport.

South African-born Mommsen qualified to play for Scotland in 2010 after completing a four-year qualification period and went on to earn 127 caps, including 42 one-day and 24 Twenty20 international appearances, and was one of the country's centrally-contracted players.  

The 29-year-old led Scotland into the 2015 World Cup with 520 runs in the qualifying tournament, while he also captained the side in the World T20 in India earlier this year, where he helped the nation to their first ever win in the tournament with victory over Hong Kong. 

"After much thought and reflection, I have taken the decision to step down as the captain of Scotland and not renew my contract with Cricket Scotland, in order to pursue a very exciting and attractive opportunity in the corporate world," said Mommsen.

"It has been an incredibly difficult decision but one that I felt I had to make at this stage in my life." 

Mommsen, the 2014 ICC associate and affiliate cricketer of the year, added: "I am enormously proud of what we have achieved over the last few years, and I have no doubt that the team and the organisation will continue to grow its presence on the global stage in the future." 

Scotland head coach Grant Bradburn, said: "Preston Mommsen offers the team many qualities that will be difficult to replace, he will be a big loss. A quality experienced batsmen at the peak of his skills, consistently our fittest player, top fielder and of course our leader with a tough uncompromising attitude.

"Preston should be very proud of his many achievements as an international player and we wish him every success in his new career."