http://members.iinet.net.au/~dcadigan/54094.jpg

Cya later. Smart move retiring, you knew you were gooooone anyway. "I have lost the 'fire' to play" meaning "I knew I was goooooone anyway, the selectors told me to retire"

i'll always remember watching him at the gabba recently in a twenty20 game hitting some enormous 6s

dm i love u!

marto is/was a top player.

At least this way he goes out on his own accord.

he would have played in the next test for sure, hardly jumped before he was pushed.

I'd happily get dropped to see out my $500k contract instead of retiring early

perth being his home test, I thought he'd at least stay on until then.

and spidz that's the reason we have 'dads army' because they are on that money, who in their right mind is going to walk away from that sorta $$

I guess while we keep wining there isn't too much drama, but lets hope they all don't retire in one hit, else Aussie cricket will suck during the 'rebuilding phase' we only have ONE person under 30 in the current team, M Clarke.... we do need to start thinking of the future!

oh and that other thing about them playing heaps better than the whipper snappers. minor detail, i can understand how you missed it.

ahhh cricket!
What a hell of a way to fall asleep!

Unless he put in some huge performances in the next few tests, this probably would have been his last series anyways. And yeah, I thought he would have waited until Perth knowing Watson was out, but good on him for sticking to his guns. Definitely not the flashiest player ever, but he did have some memorable performances.

Now, addressing the replacements issue - when are they going to learn that Symonds is not a test player? He is one of the most brilliant one day players to have ever played the game, but he just can't cut it in tests - he doesn't have the mindset for it. I don't know much about Vogues but it appears he has jumped ahead of a few injured guys so that is probably why he is in. Cosgrove, Jacques and Hodge are surely the next ones to be looking at.

werd to that hermitech

[quote]I guess while we keep wining there isn't too much drama, but lets hope they all don't retire in one hit, else Aussie cricket will suck during the 'rebuilding phase' we only have ONE person under 30 in the current team, M Clarke.... we do need to start thinking of the future![/quote] Big deal. Good cricketers play into their mid 30's. Lara, Dravid, Sehwag, Tendulkar, Fleming, Kallis are all in their mid 30's and among the finest batsman in the world.

The only struggle will be replacing Warney.

We have Punter and Hussey aged 31 and dominating for another 5 years. Stuart Clark at 31 looks a good 50 test prospect. Watson and Clarke are fantastic young batsman to go along with Jacques and Cosgrove. Thats the thing about the Australian side, we're so good you have to be a sublime talent to get a look in before you're 30. Look at Hussey, he didn't get picked till he was 30 and he couldn't have been better prepared.

Remember, your average shield attack is far superior to half the test attacks out there - so our batsman lick their lips at the chance to play a bit of test cricket!

Best of luck to Marto whatever he decides to do now.

I'm a complete f***ing cricket nub, but don't touring sides generally struggle against the Aussie State teams? I heard something about that recently about how in order to win in Australia a team has to do well vs. any State teams they play.

Surely that means we have plenty of talent to inject to the national side if the oldies evac?

They'd do just as good against our state teams than we would against their county teams.