Shaun Tait announces retirement from all forms of cricket

34-year-old Australian speedster Shaun Tait announced his retirement from all forms of cricket earlier today. Speaking to Cricket Australia, he revealed that a chronic elbow injury led to him making the decision to quit the game.

"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,” said Tait

"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,” he continued.

Extra Cover: Australian pacer Shaun Tait becomes a citizen of India

Tait played in 3 Tests, 35 One Day Internationals and 21 T20 International for the Australian cricket team in a career which spanned almost 12 years. He was known for his blistering pace and his unconventional bowling action and was even given the nickname “Wild Thing.” He was a part of Australia’s unbeaten world cup winning campaign of 2007 in West Indies.

He made his Test debut way back in 2005 against England in Nottingham, however inconsistent performances and constant injuries led to him being dropped from the side and making only 3 Test appearances throughout his career.

However, he featured in a lot of T20s in various tournaments around the world and was an asset to whichever team he played for. Most recently, he was a part of the Hobart Hurricanes franchise in the Big Bash League in January this year.

He holds the record for the second fastest delivery every bowled in international cricket 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.

He also holds the record for the best ever bowling figures by an Australian in 50-over-cricket – figures of 8/43 in an ODI against Tasmania in 2004.

He is currently married to Indian model Mashoom Singha and officially became an overseas citizen of India a few weeks ago and would have been allowed to play for India in 2020 had he had not retired.