AJ announces retirement

Date: Tuesday 31 August 2010

Leicestershire seamer AJ Harris has announced his retirement from first-class cricket after a successful 18-year career in county cricket.

The 37-year-old bowler, who was Leicestershire’s leading LV=County Championship wicket-taker last season with 35 victims, took 451 first-class wickets in a career which included an England A tour of Australia in 1996-97.

Harris started out with Derbyshire in 1993 and moved to Nottinghamshire in 2000 for nine seasons, where he picked up a Championship-winners medal in 2005.

The popular seamer took a Leicestershire Championship best 5-26 against Gloucestershire at Grace Road last season, and always gave absolutely everything when he took to the field.

Whether he bowled the first over of the day or last, AJ steamed in as if his life depended on it and he was an extremely well-liked member of the Leicestershire dressing room.

Harris also became an important member of the t20 side in 2009, and he became the last man to claim Michael Vaughan’s wicket before the former England captain announced his retirement from the game.

His career-best first-class figures were 7-54 for Notts against Northamptonshire at Trent Bridge and he went on to take 11 wickets in that game and 67 for the season, which was his best ever haul for a campaign.

Harris was part of the Leicestershire team that won the first two Championship games of the season – he took seven wickets against Northants and Derbyshire – but then found his opportunities limited due to outstanding form from the Leicestershire attack.

Matthew Hoggard, Nathan Buck and Nadeem Malik have all been in good touch and with spinners Claude Henderson and Jigar Naik also in the wickets, Harris has been passing his experience onto the young seamers in Leicestershire’s Second XI.

Harris has looked back on his career with fond memories. He said: "It is with great sadness that I have decided to retire from first-class cricket at the end of the 2010 season with Leicestershire.

"I have been fortunate enough to have played for 18 seasons during which time I have played with and against some very special players and some of the finest cricketers to have ever graced our beautiful game.

"I am honoured to be able to call many of them a friend and it will be strange not to be sharing a changing room with them again.

"I always received the most incredibly generous support from players, staff, the media and especially the members and supporters of all the teams I have played for and I cannot thank them all enough.

"But all good things must come to an end and now is the right time to move on and I look forward to my future with great enthusiasm. I hope people will feel that I always gave 100 per cent whenever I walked out for their team."

Everybody at Grace Road would like to wish AJ all the very best for the future.