Batsman Justin Langer has become the latest Australian to announce his retirement from Test cricket.
Batsman Justin Langer has become the latest Australian to announce his retirement from Test cricket.
The fifth Ashes Test will now be the last for Langer, Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath.
He made his debut against West Indies in 1993 and has scored 7,650 runs in 104 matches at an average of 45.26.
"There hasn't been a waking moment for the last 20 years where I haven't thought about playing Test cricket, so this is a tough moment," he said.
"The reason it's so hard is that I don't want to let it go. I don't want to stop playing for Australia. It's emotional, I feel sad about it, but I know in my heart it's the right thing to do.
"I retire from this game having played with some of the greatest players of all time. It's been a privilege to play with Shane and Glenn and Adam Gilchrist, the greatest wicket-keeper of all time, Matthew Hayden and Ricky Ponting, who is the greatest batsman this country has produced after Bradman."
Unlike fellow Western Australian Damien Martyn, who announced his retirement from all cricket following the second Test against England, Langer will continue to play at state level.
He will also be in England during the year after accepting an offer to return to Somerset to play county cricket, having hit a career best 342 for the club last summer.
Langer has walked as an equal with great players and that will leave memories that last even longer than his impressive playing statistics
Langer, who has also written books about cricket and been a columnist for this website for the past six years, was primarily a middle order batsman during the first phase of his Test career, but reinvented himself as an opener during the 2001 tour to England.
Short of form during the tour, he had to wait until the final Test at The Oval to make his first appearance of the series. - BBC
Langer also set to quit
Batsman Justin Langer has become the latest Australian to announce his retirement from Test cricket.
Batsman Justin Langer has become the latest Australian to announce his retirement from Test cricket.
The fifth Ashes Test will now be the last for Langer, Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath.
He made his debut against West Indies in 1993 and has scored 7,650 runs in 104 matches at an average of 45.26.
"There hasn't been a waking moment for the last 20 years where I haven't thought about playing Test cricket, so this is a tough moment," he said.
"The reason it's so hard is that I don't want to let it go. I don't want to stop playing for Australia. It's emotional, I feel sad about it, but I know in my heart it's the right thing to do.
"I retire from this game having played with some of the greatest players of all time. It's been a privilege to play with Shane and Glenn and Adam Gilchrist, the greatest wicket-keeper of all time, Matthew Hayden and Ricky Ponting, who is the greatest batsman this country has produced after Bradman."
Unlike fellow Western Australian Damien Martyn, who announced his retirement from all cricket following the second Test against England, Langer will continue to play at state level.
He will also be in England during the year after accepting an offer to return to Somerset to play county cricket, having hit a career best 342 for the club last summer.
Langer has walked as an equal with great players and that will leave memories that last even longer than his impressive playing statistics
Langer, who has also written books about cricket and been a columnist for this website for the past six years, was primarily a middle order batsman during the first phase of his Test career, but reinvented himself as an opener during the 2001 tour to England.
Short of form during the tour, he had to wait until the final Test at The Oval to make his first appearance of the series. - BBC