Aussie quick Behrendorff walks away from state cricket

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Aussie quick Behrendorff walks away from state cricket

Jason Behrendorff has played his last game for Western Australia, with the former international quick retiring from all but Twenty20 cricket.

After knocking back a state contract this summer to free himself for the global T20 circuit, Behrendorff had remained available for Western Australia in short stints.

But he confirmed on Wednesday that would no longer be the case, the 34-year-old keen to walk away from anything beyond Twenty20 cricket.

A white-ball threat for Australia when on the field, Behrendorff’s call comes after he was not retained by Perth for next BBL season and let go to Melbourne Renegades.

With more time on the road ahead, Behrendorff confirmed an early-season fixture for Western Australia against NSW last September would be his last.

“It played a huge part in my decision to retire,” Behrendorff said.

“I know that I’m away with international commitments, franchise leagues and the like, but I want to be home and present for my kids.

“In particular, things like school pick-up and drop-off … to spend more quality time with my wife, Juvelle, and to be able to immerse myself more in family life.”

A Canberra product, Behrendorff played 12 ODIs and 17 T20s for Australia, taking 34 wickets across the two formats.

His ability to trouble batters with his left-arm quicks made him a staple of Australia’s team in the second half of the 2019 ODI World Cup.

But he was soon besieged by more back injuries, which had previously forced him to walk away from red-ball cricket at age 27 in 2017.

Before that he had taken 126 wickets in 30 Shield games, recording the best strike-rate (44.34) and third-best average (23.31) of any WA player with 100 wickets or more.

“It’s been no surprise to people who know me or a little bit about cricket that I’ve battled with quite a few injuries across the journey,” Behrendorff said. “To keep getting back up every time I had a setback, to continue to play good cricket, to be involved with each team and to win trophies.

“I didn’t think think my career at WA would end up like this in terms of the success I was able to have both personally and with the team, so for that I’m very proud and very grateful.”

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