The Western Australia captain, 34, made the surprise announcement at a news conference in Perth on Thursday.
Marcus North has announced his retirement from Australian domestic cricket pic.twitter.com/id6tSN5MGP
— WACA (@waca_cricket) April 3, 2014
Born in Pakenham in Victoria, North made his debut for Western Australia in 1998 and played 209 first class matches including 21 Tests.
It's been a tumultuous season for North who finished 2013/14 atop the Sheffield Shield runs tally but was forced to deal with the death of his brother in a November car crash.
During his 15-year first-class career the left-hander played 21 Tests, two ODIs and one T20 match for Australia with the highlight of his international career undoubtedly being the 117 he scored in his debut Test innings against South Africa at Wanderers in Johannesburg in February, 2009.
Marcus North scored at century on Test debut at Wanderers. Photo: Getty
He also had an occasional knack of taking handy Test wickets with his part-time off-spin – his 6-55 against Pakistan at Lord's was his most memorable performance with the ball.
North also scored two hundreds during the 2009 Ashes series in England, as well as centuries against New Zealand (at Wellington) and India (at Bangalore) in 2010 to finish with a Test record of 1171 runs at an average of 35.48.
His final Test came in Adelaide during the 2010-11 Ashes series when a run of poor form cost him his place in the national team.
North was one of Australia's leading batsmen during the 2009 Ashes in England. Photo: Getty
Nonetheless North remained a popular player throughout his career thanks to his good sportsmanship and his friendly interaction with fans and the media.
It's the second year in a row the leading Sheffield Shield run scorer has retired after Ricky Ponting called it quits last summer.