Melbourne, Mar.7 (ANI): In the next 40 days, Dirk Nannes will make three to four times his annual Cricket Victoria salary, which this summer totalled well under 100,000 dollars.
He wished nothing but the best for his Victoria Sheffield Shield team mates, despite any angst that may have been caused by his decision to quit mid-season so he could extend his career in the shortened forms of the game.
"My body simply cannot handle playing first-class cricket," he said.
"Even if I made myself available, there was no chance of me playing the last few (Shield) games. I have a back issue. It's fine for playing the shorter forms, but if I was asked to bowl 17 overs one day I couldn't back up and bowl again the next day," Fox Sports quoted him, as saying.
Nannes is hoping for selection in Australia's Twenty20 World Cup team for the West Indies later in autumn, as well as Victoria's spring-time Twenty20 Champions League commitments.
In-between, he is playing with English club Nottinghamshire.
"People don't understand the rigours of what you are actually going through trying to bowl as fast and as flat-out as you can every single ball," he said. If you bowl 20 overs, that's 120 balls. It's hard. It gets to you."
Nannes admits his decision may have upset some, but he hasn't lost a wink of sleep over it.
"Sure I can slave away for years playing Shield cricket. But cricket essentially is my work," he said.
"You have to do what is best for business and what is best for family. We have young kids. We have a mortgage.
"What should I do, beat myself around playing Shield cricket and maybe having another two years? Or be available for the next five years of IPL cricket? It's a no-brainer. The most I have played in a year is eight games of Shield cricket, last summer. The next best is about five.
"I'm comfortable that every single person in the squad understands my position. Some may disagree with it, but I'm convinced that 99.9 per cent would make the same decision as me." (ANI)
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