'I’m tired of the politics'

Stuart Carlisle announces retirement

Cricinfo staff

October 19, 2005

Stuart Carlisle reaches his hundred against Bangladesh in 2004 © AFP

"I have now officially retired from the game," he told reporters in Harare. "I was fed up by what is happening and I just walked away. I'm tired of the politics. I'd rather be away from them.

"Phil Simmons is dead right. We can't be having people who do not know which side of the bat is up at the helm of cricket. As for the players, it's not their fault. You cannot expect them to perform when all this is happening around them. I feel sorry for the younger players, they have nothing else to do outside cricket. They'll rather stay put under the prevailing condition and still have their cars and fuel coupons.

"We have just lost to Kenya and there is a danger of losing our Test status if we keep on losing." His retirement follows that of Craig Wishart last month.

Carlisle, 33, played the last of his 33 Tests against New Zealand in August, exactly a decade after his ODI and Test debuts against Pakistan. He scored 1615 runs at 26.91, including two hundreds, and also played 111 ODIs, making 2740 runs at 27.67.

He said he will look back on his career with mainly happy memories. "We definitely had some good times, as an individual and with the team. I'm proud to be the only Zimbabwean to score an ODI and Test hundred against Australia, and my three ODI hundreds have been very special."

Carlisle has gone into business, but says he feel he still have something to contribute to cricket. "There are senior guys like me around. We do not have to play. We can coach and do other stuff. A lot of guys want to do that. But we can't do that under the present set-up."

© Cricinfo

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Players/Umpires

Stuart Carlisle

Teams

Zimbabwe