Australian test spinner Nathan Hauritz has called it a day, deciding to end his 15-year career. Hauritz can be credited as spinner who filled the gap left by Shane Warne until the recent emergence of Nathan Lyon.
Hauritz was playing for the Melbourne Renegades in the Big Bash League. It was on Monday night that the team got eliminated and the 34-year old took the decision to bid adieu to his playing career. He had featured in only one of the eight matches played by the Renegades as he had become part of a backup plan for the team. The former spinner was cut off by Queensland at the end of 2013-2014 and had not received a state contract for the past two seasons. He was playing in the BBL for just two months but struggled to find form.
"I was toying with it 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," he explained.
"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."
It was being conjectured that the Renegades would pair Hauritz with Xavier Doherty but that unfortunately did not happen as they opted to play the latter as the only specialist spinner at their Etihad stadium home. Doherty had replaced Hauritz in the Australian Test team during the 2010-11 Ashes series.
The match that ended Hauritz’s desire to continue playing
Hauritz was part of the team when Renegades played against Perth on the 30th of December. Michael Klinger and Shaun Marsh was in excellent form as they claimed a record 10-wicket win chasing 171 runs. Hauritz bowled two overs and gave 29 runs and it was after that match that Hauritz understood that his time was up.
"I competed as hard as I could, but I just felt that me competing as hard as I could wasn't good enough," he said. "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."
Hauritz was not included for the final Test of the 2009 Ashes which was played out in Oval. This is remembered as Oval has a pitch suited for spin. Subsequently, Hauritz was excluded from the team for the 2010-11 Ashes. A chance of career redemption came for Hauritz when he was included in the Australian first team for the World Cup as a primary spinner.
Yet unfortunately for Hauritz, that chance never came as he injured his shoulder while playing a one-day in Hobart and he had to be withdrawn. Jason Kejza was called in and Hauritz could never return to the Australian team since then.
Hauritz mostly appeared for Australia in one-dayers and a total of 78 times in all formats and he has taken 128 wickets.
Nathan Hauritz is now focused on concentrating on his career in currency trading. He is also planning to recruit 15-20 promising young spinners in Queensland and will try to hasten their development by acting as coach and mentor. He said,
"I want to be able to go to games, watch these kids bowl and teach them my training strategies and what helped them improve. I want to get rid of that mantra that you're only a spinner when you're 26, 27," he said.
"I want to be a shoulder to cry on. I always felt if I could have a mentor on call 24-7, even to catch up with for a beer to talk cricket, [it would have been great]. I feel a mentor for a spinner is essential."
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