Brett Dorey announces his retirement

Brett Dorey, the fast bowler who played four one-day internationals for Australia back in 2006, has announced his retirement. Dorey, 33, has been one of the senior members of the Western Australia attack in the past few seasons but a new generation of bowlers, including Ryan Duffield and Nathan Coulter-Nile, are being groomed under the coach Mickey Arthur.

Dorey is the second Warriors seamer to give the game away this summer, after Ashley Noffke retired early in the season. He leaves the game having taken 163 first-class wickets at 26.16 from 44 outings, but this season he has played only four of a possible nine Sheffield Shield matches, for 12 wickets at 30.91.

"The writing has been on the wall for a while now," Dorey told reporters in Perth. "I'm pretty happy with my career. If you had said that I would play seven seasons of first-class cricket and play for Australia, I would not have believed it."

Dorey won his surprise call-up to the Australia ODI side in the 2005-06 summer, but in his four appearances he managed only two wickets at an average of 73. It was a rapid rise for Dorey, who had worked as a bodyguard for a Russian millionaire in London before really making his mark on the Perth cricket scene.

Although injuries have kept Dorey out of action at times over the past couple of years, including an Achilles tendon problem and an ankle issue that he sustained this year, he said that had not played any part in his decision.

"It wasn't any injuries, my body's feeling pretty good," he said. "But the way we're going as a young group, for me it just felt right. If I play another year it felt like it might be hindering a young guy to go forward. I don't really need to achieve anything else. The fact I haven't won anything [titles] is the only thing I really regret."

The Western Australia captain Marcus North said: "Brett has always led by example on and off the field with his professionalism and outlook on the game. He is one of the characters in our dressing room and his presence will be greatly missed, and I hope the players that follow him benefit from the example that he set."