Shane Watson announces retirement from Test cricket with immediate effect

New Delhi: Australian all-rounder Shane Watson on Sunday announced his retirement from Test cricket with immediate effect. Cricket Australia confirmed the news through their official account on micro-blogging site Twitter.

BREAKING: Shane Watson has announced his retirement from Test cricket effective immediately — cricket.com.au (@CricketAus) September 6, 2015

The 34-year-old played 59 Tests, scoring 3731 runs and took 75 wickets.

Congrats to @ShaneRWatson33 on an outstanding test career for Australia! It has been a pleasure and privilege to be your team mate!

— Nathan Lyon (@NathLyon421) September 6, 2015

Congrats @ShaneRWatson33 on retirement. You deserve all the accolades that come your way. It's been a pleasure to be a part of you career. — Darren Lehmann (@darren_lehmann) September 6, 2015

"I've been through a lot of different waves of emotion about what is right for myself, my family and most importantly the team as well. Over the last couple of days there was a lot of clarity (for me) of what the right decision was. I just know that I've given everything I possibly can to get the best out of myself. I just know it's the right time to move on.

I don't have that real fight in me, especially for Test cricket, knowing the lengths physically that I'd have to go through, mentally and technically as well, to be at my best in Test cricket, so I just know it's the right time. It wasn't really one exact moment, because I've been through a lot of different mindsets,"

I've been very lucky to talk to a few people over the last month, but especially the last few days, who have just given me that little bit of clarity; my family, but one (close friend) in particular who went through himself in his career so he just provided a little more clarity about what the right decision was," Watson was quoted as saying by the Cricket Australia website.