WARNE

MELBOURNE, Australia (CMC):

Any hopes of spin wizard Shane Warne returning for next year's Cricket World Cup in the Caribbean were dashed with the announcement yesterday he would be retiring at the end of the Ashes series.

Recent Australian media reports suggested Warne was contem-plating a comeback to the shorter version of the game, so he could contest his final World Cup before retiring.

The 37-year old leg-spinner, however, ended speculation by telling a media conference the fifth and final Test at the Sydney Cricket Ground in January would be his last game in international cricket.

"It's been on my chest for a little while. I probably would have retired at the end of the 2005 Ashes series if we had have won. But it wasn't to be," Warne said.

"It's been unbelievable. My ride in international cricket has been phenomenal and I don't think I could have written my script any better. I thought I'd be sad and a lot of people have said you'll know when your time's up, you'll know when the time's right and I sort of doubted that, I didn't really understand what they meant. And I sit in here in front of you today and I know exactly what they mean."

Leading Test wicket-taker

Warne is the leading Test wicket-taker of all time and needs just one more scalp to crest the 700 mark.

He has already taken 14 wickets in the current Ashes series, a performance that has helped Australia regain the coveted title.

"The script leading up to these last two Test matches - I'm going to retire at the end of the Sydney Test match - the reason for doing it that way, I wasn't going to do anything ahead of the team. The team always came first and once the urn (Ashes) was back, it was going to be time to announce my retirement," Warne explained.

"If that had to wait until the end of the Sydney Test match, then it would've been then. But as it's worked out, the script's been written, 3-0, we got the urn back in Perth, the opportunity to play out here at the MCG in front of my family and friends who I've grown up with and spent a lot of time with, and then in Sydney where it all started.

"I still feel I'm bowling well enough to keep playing. It's about knowing the right time and I like to go out on top. I think I'm leaving on my terms. I like to think I've earned that right to go out on my terms."