Damien martyn was always the 'fall guy' of this Australian side © Getty Images

Damien Martyn's retirement has come as a surprise to me but I admire the guy for taking a decision like that.

There are a lot of reasons for him not to retire now - the Perth Test match coming up, Australia are probably going to reclaim the Ashes - so to me that makes it a more admirable decision. He probably figured out that the Australian selectors were looking to make the team younger and that he would be the first to go - he always seems the 'fall guy'. I think he's decided that he'd rather go out on his terms which is an admirable thing to do.

Also, reading through his statement I feel that something has happened in his life, which has made cricket slip down the rung a little bit in view of importance. If a little bit of your love for the game dies, then it's not so easy to play the game. So I admire him for taking the decision.

When I think of Damien Martyn, I think of two things in his career. I think of the first time I saw him bat. He came out in the Adelaide Oval, Joe Scuderi was bowling very good outswingers. He [Scuderi] troubled two international players in Tom Moody and Geoff Marsh and he got one of them out. This 21-year-old kid came out, whom I'd never seen bat before, and he square-drove the first ball for 4 and the next ball he hit up in the hamburger stall at the Adelaide Oval for 6 and I thought - this kid can bat.

When I saw Damien Martyn playing at his best I thought that probably only Mark Waugh, of the Australian players in that era made batting look easier. Damien Martyn could make batting look very easy when he was batting well.

The other thing is that he's got out at a time that he's playing well. I though he was in very good form during the Champions Trophy and he's been in good form in this series but just hasn't been able to convert the starts. What better way than to get out when you're playing well rather than when you've slipped to a point where you're embarrassing yourself.

I think it was a ludicrous decision to drop Martyn after the SCG Test against South Africa. I think from that time on he probably changed his attitude towards Test cricket. He probably wasn't as carefree as a batsman after that. I don't think that that had much influence on his decision, except, maybe he thought, 'I'm always the fall guy, when they're looking to drop someone it's always me. So this time I'm going to beat them to it.' And if that's what he has thought, then I admire his approach.

Well, I hope he is remembered fondly because he's been a damn good player, at times a harshly treated player. I always found him a very watchable batsman and I hope that's how Australian cricket remembers him as a very good player who was easy on the eye.