Aussie cricketer Shaun 'The Wild Thing' Tait hangs up his boots

Days after announcing that he had become an Indian overseas citizen, Australian pacer Shaun Tait announced his retirement from all forms of cricket.

Known as The Wild Thing for his blistering pace and unconventional bowling action, Tait played three Tests and 54 ODIs for his country and was part of Australia's unbeaten campaign at the 2007 World Cup in the Caribbean, which he says was the highlight of his career.

“I honestly wanted to play a couple more years, whether it was over in the UK or here," Tait was quoted saying by cricket.com.au. "I knew it was going to be difficult getting older to compete with the young blokes. I'm 34 years old and I suppose when you're not contributing on the field as much as you'd like to, it's time to finish up."

"It would have been nice to play another year maybe, but there's no point getting more surgery and play when I'm 35 when I'm probably not up to it anymore. If I was still performing really well, I'd probably do it [have surgery and keep playing]. But I just wasn't. The game's getting quicker and better and I'm getting slower and a bit older. It's that simple."

Cricket Australia CEO James Sutherland also reacted to the quickie's decision saying, "In his prime, Shaun was the world's fastest bowlers. It was incredibly exciting to watch him full flight bursting through the defences of the game's best batsmen. Unfortunately, injuries restricted Shaun at certain stages and he certainly didn't play as much as he would have liked."

The 34-year-old made his last appearance for Australia in a T20I fixture against India in Sydney in early 2016 - marking his comeback to international cricket after five years of absence.

To give you an idea of Tait's pace, watch this video, where he made his comeback to international cricket against Pakistan