Cricket: Shane Warne announced his retirement from Test cricket today but admitted he would have carried on playing until Australia regained the Ashes.
The 37-year-old leg-spinner ended 24 hours of speculation by confirming he would end his staggering Test career after the final Ashes Test in Sydney.
By then he should have added to a stunning tally of 699 wickets from 143 Tests and an amazing haul of 186 wickets from 34 Ashes contests and ensured his place as the greatest bowler in cricket history.
But despite his impressive list of statistics, an upbeat Warne claimed at an MCG news conference that he would have continued his long career had England retained the Ashes during the current series.
"I probably would have retired in 2005 had we had won and there was a burning ambition in the team to win the Ashes back," he said. "I saw how much we all hurt after that series and it is my eighth series against England and I've only lost one.
"It was a mission of mine no matter how long it took to get that urn back, no matter how long it took. I think you can tell by the way we've played this series and the way I've gone out there and bowled that I've been pretty determined.
"It's been pretty hard work at times and the body will enjoy not playing after Sydney for a while. The back has been pretty stiff but when the game has been on the line that's when we've been able to deliver."
He explained his decision had been made after he talked to mentors like Ian Chappell and discussed his feelings with Australian captain Ricky Ponting in the immediate aftermath of the third Test triumph in Perth earlier this week, which secured the Ashes for Australia.
Warne's announcement follows the shock retirement of Damien Martyn while Glenn McGrath and Justin Langer are tipped to make similar decisions at the end of the current series.
"I'm a happy man because it's been on my chest for a while," he admitted. "Cricket is a statistics-based game but to me it's not about statistics and money and those sort of things.
"If it was about that I would keep playing because I think I'm still bowling well enough, it's about knowing the right time.
"I'd like to go out on top and I think I'm going out on my terms. I'd like to think I've earned that right to go out on my terms, but it's a day of celebrating a wonderful ride."