MelbourneAustralian off-spinner Nathan Hauritz has decided to retire from all forms of cricket, bringing an end to a 15-year career on Tuesday.
The 34-year-old Hauritz made his first-class debut in 2001-02 and went on to play 79 matches for New South Wales and Queensland while managing to take 187 wickets including four five-wicket hauls.
From 172 List A games, Hauritz has 196 wickets at an average of 32.87 and played his last match in the format for Queensland in October 2013.
It was against South Africa in March 2002 that Hauritz made his international debut for Australia in the One-Day International format but only played eight games before being dropped for nearly six years.
The fourth match of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in November 2004 was the Test debut for Hauritz and despite taking five wickets in the match it remained his only Test appearance for another four years.
Overall Hauritz went on to play 17 Tests, 58 ODIs and three Twenty20 Internationals for Australia between 2002 and 2011 while accounting for 128 wickets across the three formats.
Hauritz struggled to make a return to the national side after his final game against England in January 2011 and since December 2013, he has not played a first-class game.
In the two-year period since December 2013, Hauritz played just 10 T20 games in the Big Bash League (BBL) and it is these sporadic appearances which have led to his decision to retire.
Melbourne Renegades signed Hauritz for the 2015-16 BBL but the off-spinner featured in only one game against the Perth Scorchers in December 2015.
Hauritz revealed that he wanted to retire after the 2014-15 BBL but after the offer from Melbourne Renegades, it kept him interested in playing for a while.
However, after the disappointing outing in the latest BBL season, Hauritz revealed that he just wanted to try and end his career on a high.
“I was toying with it (retirement) after I played with the (Sydney) Thunder and found out I wasn’t going back there [after last season] . . . but I got an offer from the Renegades at the same time, because they want to play two spinners.
“It was really tough that I wasn’t playing and training at that level anymore to get straight into it. I felt the pressure a lot more than I usually had.
This year, I felt that if things weren’t 100 per cent right – I started to feel I was done – I don’t want to go through more heartache or disappointment, (just) to try and finish on a high.
In his only game for the Melbourne Renegades in the latest BBL season, Hauritz bowled two overs and was taken apart for 29 runs in a match that the Perth Scorchers won by 10 wickets while chasing 171 runs.
Admitting that the game played a role in his decision to retire, Hauritz said that he was not able to compete at the level without regular domestic games.
“I competed as hard as I could, but I just felt that me competing as hard as I could, wasn’t good enough. They were that night, but I just didn’t have a different answer.
I’m not in a competitive environment every week to (confidently) try something different. I was just so shattered after the game.
I realised I hadn’t come down here to be that disappointed about a game of cricket anymore. I thought ‘I don’t need that anymore’.
I just want to get away. The highs and lows (are too much). I need to get off that up-and-down rollercoaster and get back to a bit of normality in life.
“I have a lot of good memories, obviously a few bad ones mixed among them. But I’ll definitely look back at my career very proud and very happy with what I achieved.
After his retirement from competitive cricket, Hauritz is now slated to take part in the upcoming Masters Champions League T20 tournament in the United Arab Emirates after being picked by Sagittarius Strikers.
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