Michael Klinger has announced he will retire from first-class cricket in Australia at the end of the Sheffield Shield season. He will continue to play T20 cricket beyond this summer. He has been a fixture in Australian domestic cricket since 1998-99 when he debuted for Victoria and has gone on to play for South Australia and Western Australia as well. At the international level, he played three T20Is for Australia.Klinger had played 182 first-class games and go on to score 11320 runs with an average of 39.3 ,highest score of 255 runs.

"I feel extremely fortunate and blessed to have been part of the Australian domestic cricket structure for 19 years in a row and I've loved and appreciated every minute of it," Klinger said.

"I'm in a unique position where I'd like to thank three organizations who gave me opportunities at different stages of my career. Firstly, to Cricket Victoria for their help and support in my development and giving me my initial opportunities in domestic cricket in Australia. Secondly, I'd like to thank the South Australian Cricket Association for giving me an opportunity more than 10 years ago when my cricket career was at a crossroads, helping to kick-start a much-improved period of my career.

Klinger has not played a single first-class match for Western Australia this season and has been unavailable in part due to his wife Cindy's battle with breast cancer.