Brett Lee Retires From Test Cricket

Sydney: Feared Australian fast bowler Brett Lee, 33, announced his retirement from Test cricket on Wednesday in a bid to prolong his career after a series of injuries.

Lee, who has not played a Test match for more than a year after limping out of Australia's 2008 Boxing Day game against South Africa, said he would remain available for one-day and Twenty20 matches.

"To me, Test cricket is my favourite part of the game, wearing the baggy green cap," Lee told Sky News. "But if I'm going to keep playing cricket for another few years, something had to give."

Lee said he had been considering his decision for several months. Earlier reports said he had finally been persuaded to quit after talking to England's Andrew Flintoff, who retired from Tests last year.

"This hasn't happened overnight. This has been a long process," Lee said. "I've had the time to step away from cricket and what I want to achieve.

"It's been about a three- to four-month decision that I've made and finally I went with it."

The tall, blond-haired right-armer was named Wisden magazine's Cricketer of the Year in 2006 and bowled a ball at 99.9 miles (160.8 kilometres) per hour in 2003, the second fastest recorded delivery behind Pakistan's Shoaib Akhtar.

Lee played 76 Tests since making his debut in 1999, averaging 30.81 runs per wicket and clocking 10 five-wicket hauls. He is hoping to play in India's lucrative IPL Twenty20 league this season, Australian media reports say. See profile & records