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Sydney: Former Australia batsman Simon Katich has announced his retirement from competitive cricket with immediate effect.
The 38-year-old, who quit first-class cricket in 2012 continued to play Twenty20 cricket for Perth Scorchers and captained the side to KFC Twenty20 Big Bash League title earlier this year.
"Having been through that before, it helped me understand the process a bit better and the more I thought about it, I felt the time was right. I have a young family, I've had a great run and for my last game at the WACA, my home ground, to be a win in a successful (BBL) campaign; it's the stuff you dream of. I'll finish on a high and that was a big part of the reason I decided to pull up stumps," Katich told reporters.
Although Katich won't take any further part in the upcoming Champions League T20, the Western Australia player said he has full faith in the Scorchers and believes they will continue to perform well even in his absence.
"I've got a huge amount of confidence in this team. My decision certainly wasn't for any other reason other than I felt I'd had my time and now it's the boys' turn."
Katich, a veteran of 56 Tests and 45 ODIs, looked back upon his tenure with the Scorchers and called it a memorable one. "The past three years have been outstanding at the Scorchers; we've been really consistent and getting to three finals, then getting over the line last year was very rewarding for everyone involved.
Katich played 118 T20 games and scored 2483 runs at an average of 30.28 and a strike-rate of 126.61. Of these, three came for Australia.
