Australia leg-spinner Shane Warne and fast bowler Glenn McGrath are planning to retire from international cricket after next month’s fifth Ashes Test against England, Australian television reported on Wednesday.
The Nine Network said Warne would announce his pending retirement at a news conference in Melbourne on Thursday but did not say when McGrath planned to make his decision.
Cricket Australia (CA) officials were unable to confirm the report.
”There is nothing we can say,” CA spokesperson Peter Young said.
Warne (37) is the world’s leading wicket-taker, with 699 scalps, and is poised to become the first man to claim 700 wickets in the fourth Ashes Test against England starting in Melbourne on Tuesday.
The master leg-spinner had hinted he might be ready to retire after helping Australia reclaim the Ashes on Monday with victory in the third Test in Perth.
”These are the things you’re going to miss,” he said in a televised interview.
”I’m closer to the end than the bloody start.”
McGrath is third on the all-time list of wicket-takers behind Warne and Sri Lankan spinner Muttiah Muralitharan, but with 555 victims, he is the leading fast bowler.
The 36-year-old has been troubled by injuries in the past few seasons and took 10 months off to care for his ill wife. — Reuters