Nash calls time on career
From NZOOM, May 2, 2002

Black Caps all-rounder Dion Nash has decided to retire from all cricket.

Nash has been battling injury since returning from during the VB one-day series in Australia earlier this year and after a 10-year international career blighted by fitness problems he's decided to call it a day.

Nash was one of the cornerstones of successful New Zealand sides in recent years and said that telling his team-mates of his decision the most difficult part.

"It was hard talking to the likes of Cairnsy (Chris Cairns) and Dan (Daniel Vettori) and telling then that I wouldn't be around for the World Cup," he said.

Nash labelled the Black Caps' 1999 tour of England as his career highlight and suggested that New Zealand cricket was still seeing the benefits of that series-winning trip.

"We grew so much over that time and to come through and win the series was one of the most special times I can remember," he said.

"The senior players (from that tour) are still leading the way now."

Nash played 32 tests for New Zealand scoring, 729 runs at an average of 23.51 and taking 93 wickets at 28.48 with a best bowling performance of 6-27 against India in 1999.

The high-point of Nash's test career from an individual standpoint was undoubtedly the Lords test on the 1994 tour of England when he scored a half century and took 11 wickets in the match.

He also played 81 one-day internationals, scoring 624 runs at an average of 15.60 and with a strike rate of 66.38 runs per hundred balls. His 64 wickets came at a cost of 40.96.

Injury has played a major part in Nash's career - the most serious of which was a back injury which kept him sidelined throughout 1996.

"The injuries have played a huge part in my decision to retire but I have had a fantastic career. I have travelled the world and met some great people. I have no regrets about anything I have faced, even the injuries have taught me some valuable lessons," Nash said.

"Unfortunately I have come to the realisation that the motivation to overcome this latest injury (a hip strain) is not as strong as it needs to be. To compete at the very top you need to be 100 percent motivated and focused on achieving and I am not quite there."

[Articles]