Lee retires from international cricket

Australian paceman Brett Lee has retired from international cricket effective immediately.

Lee, 35, was forced to return home early from Australia's horrific one-day tour of England earlier this month with a calf injury.

And his appearance in the fourth match of the series in Durham – where he took 0-12 off 2.2 overs in an eight-wicket loss – will be his last for his country.

Lee was hopeful of playing in Australia's Twenty20 World Cup team in August and September in Sri Lanka but his latest injury setback has signalled the end of his international career.

The speedster will continue to play domestic cricket for New South Wales in the shorter forms, although he turned down a Cricket New South Wales contract last month, while he is also likely to continue playing in the Indian Premier League Twenty20 competition.

Lee retired from the Test arena in February 2010 after claiming 310 scalps at an average of 30.81 in 76 matches.

He continued to play one-day international and Twenty20 cricket at both international and domestic level and in the absence of the likes of Glenn McGrath, Jason Gillespie and Nathan Bracken, spearheaded the pace attack in the 50-over format of the game.

Lee finished his one-day career with 380 wickets from 221 matches at a superb average of 23.36 and a good economy rate of 4.76.

He also had a handy batting average of 20.15 in Test cricket and 17.81 in one-day cricket.

Lee has played Twenty20 cricket for four sides, representing the Kings XI Punjab and the Kolkata Knight Riders in the IPL while he has also enjoyed stints with Wellington in New Zealand and the Sydney Sixers in the inaugural Big Bash League competition last season.

Lee has snared 103 wickets in 111 matches of Twenty20 cricket at both national and domestic level and will continue his career in the shortest form of the game in the coming months.

Alongside Pakistan quick Shoaib Akhtar, Lee was one of the fastest bowlers in world cricket and he was recorded bowling at 160.1 kilometres per hour in a 2003 cricket World Cup match against Sri Lanka.