Australia fast bowler Shaun Tait has announced his retirement from international cricket. Tait, 34, who last played for Australia in a Twenty20 international against India in January 2016, cited his chronic elbow trouble as the reason for quitting the game.
Tait’s last competitive match was in January this year, for the Hobart Hurricanes against Sydney Thunder in the 2016-17 Twenty20 Big Bash League. In his time, Tait was one of the fastest bowlers in the world, once clocking 161.1 kph in a match against England.
"I honestly wanted to play a couple more years, whether it was over in the UK or here," Tait told cricket.com.au . "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).
"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. If I was still performing really well, I'd probably do it (have surgery and keep playing). But I just wasn't. The game's getting quicker and better and I'm getting slower and a bit older. It's that simple."
The injury-prone Tait played 35 one-day internationals, 21 Twenty20 matches and only three Tests for Australia since his international debut in 2005.
"In his prime, Shaun was the world’s fastest bowler," Cricket Australia CEO James Sutherland said.
"It was incredibly exciting to watch him full flight bursting through the defences of the game’s best batsmen. We take this moment to applaud him for his achievements and contribution on the field and wish him well for the future."
In January 2008,Tait took an indefinite break from the game due to physical and emotional exhaustion and focused on one-dayers and T20s when he returned later that year. Tait quit first-class cricket in 2009 and ended his ODI career in 2011. He decided to focus on Twenty20 cricket alone.
Tait recently became an Overseas Citizen of India after his marriage to Indian model Mashoom Singha.
