Australian pacer Tait quits international cricket

Melbourne, March 27 (IANS) Australian fast bowler Shaun Tait on Monday announced his retirement from international cricket due to a chronic elbow injury.

Tait, whose last appearance for the national team came in a Twenty20 international (T20I) against India in Sydney last year, said he wanted to play more cricket but the injury made him take this decision.

Tait holds the unofficial record to bowl a second-fastest delivery in international cricket.

The 34-year-old bowled a 161.1km/h thunderbolt against England in 2010 that was just 0.2 km/hr slower than the all-time mark set by Pakistan's Shoaib Akhtar.

"I honestly wanted to play a couple more years, whether it was over in the UK or here. I knew it was going to be difficult getting older to compete with the young blokes. But I didn't know it was going to be as difficult as it was this year (with the Hurricanes)," Tait was quoted as saying by cricket.com.au.

"Pretty much getting left out of the side or not being able to play because of my elbow, either way there's no point going on with it. I knew during the Big Bash that I was going to finish up.

"The elbow has pretty much gone off a cliff now, it's done and dusted.

"I'm 34 years old and I suppose when you're not contributing on the field as much as you'd like to, it's time to finish up.

"It would have been nice to play another year maybe, but there's no point getting more surgery and play when I'm 35 when I'm probably not up to it anymore," added Tait, who made his international debut against England in Nottingham during the 2005 Ashes.

Commenting on the development, Cricket Australia (CA) CEO James Sutherland said: "In his prime, Shaun was the world's fastest bowler. It was incredibly exciting to watch him full flight bursting through the defences of the game's best batsmen.

"Perhaps the highlight of his playing career was the instrumental role he played in the Caribbean during Australia's World Cup-winning campaign in 2007."