Surrey captain Mark Butcher has announced his retirement from first-class cricket with immediate effect.
Former England star ends career after persistent knee problems
Surrey captain Mark Butcher has announced his retirement from first-class cricket with immediate effect.
The 36-year-old former England batsman has suffered with injuries in recent years and he had the latest in a long line of operations on a persistent knee problem just two weeks ago.
And, although he had hoped to return to action in September, he has now confirmed that he has decided it is the right time to end his career.
"After the on-off problems I've had with the knee injury, I've decided to retire with immediate effect," he told
Sky Sports News.
"It was the third operation on the same knee and I've got another one scheduled for three or four weeks' time.
"I'm going to be 37 in a couple of weeks and there's the matter of the rehab, and it was all just getting too much - particularly with very little guarantee that it was going to make all the difference.
"It just seemed to be the right time to call it a day."
Confirming that he had known that he might have had to make this decision at some point during the season, he added: "I obviously hoped not
"There's a big job at Surrey at the moment as captain.
"But it's been a long, hard road to try and get back and the team has had to play without its captain for the vast majority of the last 12 months or so."
Plans
Butcher, who also operated as a medium-pace bowler, revealed that he has yet to make any post-retirement plans.
"There's not much on the agenda at the moment," he said.
"I shall be working for your colleagues at
Sky Sports next week on the Pro40 and just seeing what comes up really.
"I'll take a bit of time now just to see what happens next."
Butcher played 71 Tests for England and scored 17,870 runs in his first-class career at 40.70.
He remains best remembered for his match-winning performance against Australia at Headingley in 2001, when he scored 173 not out.
