WELLINGTON, Oct 17 - New Zealand all rounder
Craig McMillan is retiring from cricket for health and personal
reasons.
McMillan, 31, said he wanted to end his career on a high
after strong performances in the recent Twenty20 World Cup, in
which he was New Zealand's highest scorer.
"I have decided that the time is right for me to retire
from cricket to spend more time with my family, as well as look
after my health, as I have had ongoing issues related to
diabetes," McMillan said in a statement on Wednesday.
New Zealand Cricket said it would release McMillan from his
contract on compassionate grounds.
McMillan made his international debut in 1997 and was a
flamboyant and aggressive, but inconsistent, batsman and a
useful medium pace bowler.
He is New Zealand's fourth highest one day international
scorer with 4,707 runs in 197 matches at an average of 28.18.
He took 49 wickets at 35.04.
As recently as February he scored a century off 67 balls,
the fastest one day century for a New Zealander.
He played 55 tests, the last in early 2005, with 3,116
runs, including six centuries, at an average of 38.46, with 28
test scalps at 44.89.
McMillan, who had been tipped as a possible recruit for the
breakaway Indian Cricket League, said he would spend time with
his family before deciding on his future.