Hussey announces Test farewell

Updated December 30, 2012 00:57:22

Veteran Australia batsmen Michael Hussey has announced he will retire from Test cricket following the third Test against Sri Lanka starting at the SCG on Thursday.

The 37-year-old Hussey revealed his decision on Saturday, adding that he will play both one-day series against Sri Lanka and West Indies following the SCG Test.

He has scored 6,183 runs at an average of 51.52 from 78 Tests, his career including 19 centuries and 29 half-centuries.

Hussey has made 185 one-day international appearances, scoring 5,442 runs at 48.15, and he was an integral member of the Australia squad that won the 2007 World Cup in West Indies.

He says his decision is based on a desire to spend more time with his young family.

"I was quite excited to tell them (children) that I'm not going to go away and play for Australia any more," Hussey told the Nine Network.

"They were happy but not as excited as I thought they were going to be. So it was a bit of a shock."

Hussey says any Test match is a stressful experience, but next week could be different.

"I feel like I can come into this last Test match with no pressure whatsoever," he said.

"I can just really go out there and enjoy it."

Hussey's rise to the Test ranks did not come until late in his career, making his debut against West Indies in 2005 aged 30.

He made an inauspicious start with innings of 1 and 29 at the Gabba but posted back-to-back centuries in the following two Tests in Hobart and Adelaide.

His place in the Australia Test XI had come into question at various stages during the past three years but he has repaid the faith shown in him again this summer.

Hussey's recent form has been excellent and he is averaging 180.00 after two Tests in the current series against Sri Lanka with scores of 115 not out, 31 not out and 34 in Hobart and Melbourne.

He had earlier scored two centuries in last month's three-Test series against South Africa.

"I know how low I felt when my head was on the chopping block and I was probably one innings away from maybe being dropped from the team," Hussey said.

"It's not a nice place to be in. That's one thing about playing for Australia, there is always a lot stress and a lot of pressure to perform."

The Western Australian's departure places pressure on Australia's selectors to settle on a suitable batting line-up by the end of the India Test tour in February-March ahead of the Ashes series in England starting in July.

His retirement will also leave Australia with a significant leadership void, with the decision following that of former captain Ricky Ponting to retire last month.

The immediate playing future of vice-captain Shane Watson is also in doubt after he was ruled out of the SCG Test with a calf injury.

Cricket Australia chief executive James Sutherland says Hussey has been a true servant at the Test level.

"Michael Hussey has been a vital contributor to many Australian team wins over his very successful Test cricket career," he said in a statement.

"Affectionately known as 'Mr Cricket', he has always been thoroughly committed to meticulous preparation and the highest levels of physical fitness which have in turn delivered consistent performances in all forms of the game.

"An incredibly reliable player and leader within the Australian cricket team, Michael will retire from Test cricket with a record that puts him amongst the very best Australian batsmen of all time."

ABC/AAP

Tags: cricket, sport, perth-6000

First posted December 29, 2012 18:30:41

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Lee announces retirement

Updated July 13, 2012 14:41:04

Veteran Australian fast bowler Brett Lee has announced his retirement from international cricket.

Lee's decision does not come as a shock, as he was forced to return home from Australia's one-day series against England because of a calf injury earlier this week.

The 35-year-old has ruled out taking part in this year's World Twenty20 in Sri Lanka, having based his decision to retire on a "gut feeling".

But he will continue playing Twenty20 in the domestic Big Bash League and the Indian Premier League.

"Obviously it's been a dream career, I guess 13 years at the top," Lee told Channel Nine.

"I suppose I could not ask for any more."

Lee says he is comfortable with his decision.

"It's been a fantastic career and I've loved every single moment of it," he said.

"But it's now stage two of my life coming up so I'm pretty happy and pretty excited."

Lee made himself unavailable for Test duties in 2010, but continued to play one-day and Twenty20 internationals for Australia.

He played 76 Tests for Australia after making his debut in 1999, claiming 310 wickets at an average of 30.81.

Lee made 221 one-day international appearances, collecting 380 scalps at an average of 23.36, and was a member of Australia's victorious World Cup squad in 2003.

He also played 25 Twenty20 internationals in which he took 28 wickets at 25.50.

The opportunity to play the World Twenty20 this year had been enticing to Lee, but he feels now is the right time to step away from the international arena.

"It just came to me this morning and I just felt it was the right time to leave the game," Lee said.

"I guess if I was to try and go over there and play the Twenty20 World Cup not at 100 per cent ... it just would not be worth it, so I just had to walk away from it and I'm proud of the call I've made."

"Looking ahead at the next two months I just didn't have that desire any more. It's not a lack of commitment but you just get to that point in your life when enough's enough and the great run is at an end."

Lee says the key highlight of his career was to have played for much of a period where Australia dominated world cricket.

"I think just playing in a fantastic era ... playing with guys like Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath and Adam Gilchrist to just mention a few, Steve and Mark Waugh," he said.

"They were heroes of mine growing up."

Australian chairman of selectors John Inverarity paid tribute to Lee's contribution to the game on and off the field.

"The statistics only tell part of the story," Inverarity said.

"Brett has been an absolute ornament to the game; a fine player, a fierce and brave competitor, a generous opponent and one who always upheld the highest standards of sportsmanship."

"He has been a cricketer in every sense of the word."

Tags: cricket, sport, australia

First posted July 13, 2012 11:18:01

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Strauss announces retirement

Updated August 29, 2012 22:33:30

Andrew Strauss has resigned as England Test captain and announced his retirement from professional cricket with immediate effect.

The 35-year-old has brought down the curtain on a 101-Test career that saw him lead England to consecutive Ashes series victories after taking over the captaincy in 2009.

Strauss insists his retirement has nothing to do with the ongoing England exile of star batsman Kevin Pietersen.

"After much thought over the last few weeks, I have decided to step down as England Test captain and announce my retirement from all forms of cricket," Strauss said in an England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) statement issued ahead of a news conference at Lord's.

"It has clearly been a tough decision to make, but I believe that it is both in the best interests of the England cricket team and myself to step down at this stage.

"The driver to all this is I haven't batted well enough for a long time. I wasn't going to improve batting-wise, I've run my race.

"It's one of these decisions when you know when your time is up.

"It is important for a captain to not be a passenger and that people are not speculating whether you should be in the side."

Alastair Cook, already England's one-day captain and Strauss' opening partner in the five-day game, was announced as the new skipper of the Test team.

England dropped Pietersen, who has not played international cricket in any format since making 149 in the drawn second Test against South Africa at Headingley, after he admitted sending "provocative" texts to Proteas players.

Some of these were alleged to have been critical of Strauss, who succeeded South Africa-born Pietersen as England captain in 2009.

Strauss says he had spoken to England coach Andy Flower about retiring "before the Kevin Pietersen situation reared its head".

His last Test was a 51-run defeat by South Africa at Lord's, his Middlesex home ground where he made his Test debut in 2004, earlier this month that saw England surrender its number one Test ranking to the Proteas.

Strauss scored 21 hundreds - one shy of England's all-time record - and led his side to the top of the world Test rankings, a run that included home and away Ashes wins in 2009 and 2010/11.

Cook's first Test as captain will be the first of a four-match series in India in November.

The 27-year-old paid tribute to Strauss by saying: "Andrew's contribution to England cricket in recent years is evident to everyone who follows the sport but only those of us who have been lucky enough to share a dressing room with him are fully aware of his immense contribution to our success.

"He has been a fantastic captain, has led from the front for three-and-a-half years and is a true ambassador for the game.

"I know this can't have been an easy decision for him and everyone in the dressing room will be sad to see him go.

"I'm very excited by this new challenge, it is a huge honour to be appointed Test captain."

Strauss has enjoyed modest returns with the bat in recent years and his 122 against West Indies in May was his first Test century since November 2010.

He followed up with another century, at Trent Bridge, but averaged just 17.83 in six innings against the Proteas.

England's form in 2012 has been poor, with six defeats in 11 Tests culminating in a 2-0 series loss to the Proteas, its first home reverse in four years.

AFP

Tags: cricket, sport, england, united-kingdom

First posted August 29, 2012 21:06:58

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Gillard announces Adelaide Oval funding

Updated December 28, 2011 17:01:33

The Federal Government will provide $30 million towards the Adelaide Oval redevelopment.

The money will help to pay for 375 underground car parks and a wetland walk on the oval side of the River Torrens.

The Prime Minister Julia Gillard made the announcement at the oval this morning.

She says the funding will ease concerns about traffic congestion in the city during sporting events.

"What we've announced today is going to meet the needs of the local community so they're going to be reassured there will not be cars across their driveways," she said.

Three hundred of the car parks will be built beneath the new eastern stand with the remaining 75 to go beneath the indoor cricket centre at the oval's southern end.

The Prime Minister was flanked by South Australian Cricket Association (SACA) president Ian McLachlan, Acting Premier John Rau and Member for Adelaide Kate Ellis.

Ms Ellis conceded the contribution was less than the State Government initially asked for.

"I think South Australians would expect their treasurers to be asking for perhaps more money than they're going to get in the end. We think that this is a fair contribution."

SACA president Ian McLachlan says the funding will cover most of the remaining costs of the project.

"This extra 30 million really rounds out most of the important things that need to be done. There are some other things that we could do, but they're not essential," he said.

The State Opposition's treasury spokesman, Iain Evans, says the purpose of the funding is to cover the cost of a budget blow-out.

"Before the election, the State Government were telling everyone in South Australia that they could build the oval for $450 million and not a cent more," he said.

"The total cost now is well over $600 million, and the $30 million today primarily goes to paying for car parking that was already part of the project anyway."

The chief executive of the Infrastructure Department, Rod Hook, says the main purpose of the money is to provide extra parking space in the parklands.

"The two underground car parks, whilst they will contribute to support parking for major footy or cricket games, they will be mainly used for functions down here at the oval in non-major event days. That's 375 cars that otherwise may be parked around the surface in the northern parklands. Those cars can go underground and out of sight for the normal non-major event day," he said.

"We were already intending to do the 300 car parks underneath the eastern stand because that's part of the contract documents. The fact that the Federal Government is paying for that gives us roughly 15 million to redirect into other aspects of the project.

"We hadn't made a commitment to do the car park underneath the indoor cricket centre. We knew that we had to make a decision by the end of January on whether we had the funds to commit to that or not.

"This announcement today means we'll immediately commit to that."

The decision ends uncertainty about the Federal Government's contribution to the redevelopment, which was one of several infrastructure projects put on hold after the Queensland floods.

The State Government will spend $535 million on the redevelopment.

Work has begun on the project and is expected to be completed in time for the start of the 2014 AFL season.

Tags: states-and-territories, federal-government, sport, cricket, australian-football-league, adelaide-5000, sa

First posted December 28, 2011 08:25:12

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