Daniel Vettori announces retirement from cricket

AUCKLAND: Veteran New Zealand spinner Daniel Vettori confirmed on Tuesday his retirement from international cricket as he returned home from his last game — the World Cup final against Australia.

Vettori, 36, officially announced his retirement from all forms of cricket today as the Black Caps anded in Auckland on Tuesday after Sunday's loss at the MCG.

"It was my last game for New Zealand, in the final, so it was a lovely way to finish," Vettori told reporters at Auckland airport. "It would have been great to win, but I'm pretty proud of everyone, the way we've gone about things the last six weeks.

Vettori is New Zealand's greatest ever wicket-taker, with 705 international wickets in 442 matches. The spinner captured 15 wickets at 20.46 runs each at the World Cup and was named in the ICC Team of the Tournament.

"To be able to finish in the final, albeit without a win, I'm just very grateful for the amount of support I had particularly from Brendon (McCullum) and Mike (Hesson, the coach). To be able to get back from a number of injuries and to be here and to be part of it is something I'll always treasure," he said.

Vettori is one of only eight players to take 300 Test wickets and score 3000 Test runs, joining the likes of Shane Warne, Ian Botham and countryman Richard Hadlee.

He stepped down stepped down as captain of the Black Caps in 2011 following the World Cup in India.

Daniel Vettori officially announced he has played his last game for the @BLACKCAPS #BacktheBlackCaps ^PT pic.twitter.com/QQ2GV7snbK

— BLACKCAPS (@BLACKCAPS) March 31, 2015