Australia fast bowler John Hastings has announced his retirement from all forms of cricket after a mystery lung condition that had forced him to take a break from cricket last month failed to abate.
Hastings was told by doctors that there was no guarantee that there will be no bleeding in his lungs when he bowled. This mystery condition – the first symptoms of which he had experienced several years ago – has forced him into retirement with a “lot of grey area” still surrounding his “long-term health”.
“There was just a lot of grey area surrounding long-term health, whether it was causing any damage, and if there was any potential to have a fatal bleed on the field,” Hastings told the Sydney Morning Herald.
A serious health issue has forced former Australia allrounder John Hastings to draw the curtain on his decorated cricket career: https://t.co/7FuR7t5l8o pic.twitter.com/is8FBLVKSQ
— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) November 13, 2018
“They just really couldn’t say yes or no. And I wasn’t happy with that. It was a pretty tough little period, the last five or six months, but I’ve come to terms with it now, and I’m pretty comfortable with where it’s all at.”
The 33-year-old played played one Test, 29 ODIs and nine Twenty20 Internationals for Australia and had retired from Tests and ODIs in 2017 to focus on the shortest format of the game.
Having made his first-class debut in 2007, Hastings played 75 first-class matches and picked up 239 wickets at 27.22 with his only Test appearance coming at Perth against South Africa in 2012.
Hastings played for Melbourne Stars in BBL
A more seasoned limited-overs cricketer, Hastings has 42 ODI wickets at 29.90 and seven T20I wickets at 35.28 while picking up 179 List A wickets and 116 T20 wickets overall.
Over the course of his 11-year-long career, Hastings has represented Victoria and Melbourne Stars at home, Durham in English county cricket, Chennai Super Kings, Kolkata Knight Riders and Kochi Tuskers Kerala in IPL and Quetta Gladiators in PSL.
“I just loved to help my mates out and win games of cricket,” Hastings said. “Just being in that team environment’s something you can’t replicate in everyday life.
“It’s pretty underrated how good our last 10 years were. To be a part of that, to be accepted, coming down from NSW (New South Wales), it’s not an easy thing for someone to fit in.”
