Former Australia opening batsman Michael Slater announced his retirement from first-class cricket on Wednesday, three years after winning the last of his 74 Test caps.
The 34-year-old said health concerns rather than being offered a reduced New South Wales contract were the main reason for his retirement.
"It's been a very tough one, given that I still have the desire to play and believe I still had a lot to offer New South Wales cricket," Slater said.
"But I feel to have signed with the Blues in the hope of being fit for the season would have been irresponsible," he told a news conference in Sydney.
Slater was the highest run-scorer for New South Wales in the 2002-03 Australia domestic four-day competition with 770 runs at an average of 42.78, including a 204 against Western Australia and a century in the final against New South Wales.
However, he managed just three games the following season.
The right-hander from the New South Wales country town of Wagga Wagga cracked 14 centuries in his Test career, which ended abruptly on the eve of the fifth Ashes Test in 2001 when left-hander Justin Langer took his place in the side.
Langer celebrated his return with an unbeaten 102 and then made hundreds in four of his next six Tests.
SWASHBUCKLING STYLE
Famous for his swashbuckling style, Slater scored 5,312 Test runs at 42.84 with a highest score of 219 and 14,912 first-class runs at 40.85 with 36 hundreds.
Standing just 1.75 metres tall, he was prepared to take the attack to any bowler and give Australia a free-scoring start to their innings, before left-handers Langer and Matthew Hayden made it a normal outcome for the team in the past three years.
Slater made his Test debut on the 1993 Ashes tour.
He announced himself as a top class player in the second Test at Lord's, exuberantly kissing the Australian coat-of-arms on his helmet upon reaching his first Test hundred.
"It was his approach and obvious pride representing his country which inspired countless Australian kids and left fans with our most lasting memories of him as an international player," Cricket Australia chief executive James Sutherland said in a statement released in Melbourne on Wednesday.
Slater was one of four Australians to play in every Test of the world-record 16 successive wins.
He scored seven of his 14 hundreds against England.
Former Australia captain Mark Taylor, who was also raised in Wagga Wagga, put on an average of 51.14 with Slater in 78 opening stands. Australia's most prolific opening duo, they added 3,887 runs in 44 matches, second only to West Indian pair Gordon Greenidge and Desmond Haynes.
© 2024 Rediff.com -