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And in the end...

Dion Nash announced his retirement from all cricket on 2 May 2002, ending an injury-plagued but sporadically-brilliant ten-year career with the New Zealand Cricket Team.

In those ten years, Nash had suffered far more than his fair share of major injuries. More than once, he found himself at the crossroads, having to ask himself whether he had the will-power needed to come back from the serious back injuries which might easily have ended his career in 1996 and again in 2000, not to mention a host of other, less-devastating injury setbacks.

It was a tribute to Nash's trademark attitude that he was able to apply the determination and 'fighting spirit' he always showed on field to make Lazarus-like comebacks from injury that few would have thought possible, not just once, but several times. Nonetheless, Nash lost half his career to injury and it is, in turn, a reflection of his all-round cricketing talent that he was able to achieve what he did in the games he was able to play.

Nash's cricket career came to an end not, as one might have expected, because he had finally suffered an injury from which he could not recover, but because he no longer felt the motivation necessary to overcome his last injury, a hip problem sustained in Australia. Instead, Nash said he was happy to move on to a new phase in his life and that his retirement felt, in fact, like a weight had been lifted from his shoulders.

Although Nash is not sure what he will be doing in the future, he is enthusiastic about the new pathways open to him, starting with international travel, postgraduate studies, enquiries into the business world, and his marriage in February. Surely, whatever Nash does in the future, he will do it with the same all-out determination which always characterised his cricket.

Meanwhile, although Nash has hung up his Black Cap, he has not severed all ties, and will be keeping in touch with the game through his continuing interest in the New Zealand Players' Association. Nor has he ruled out a role in coaching, a few years down the track. Hopefully, these are positive signs that Nash is at peace with cricket, able to view his career in terms of what he did achieve rather than what injury, tragically, prevented him from acheiving.

All the best to you, Dion Nash.

Read more:

• The Spirit: A review of Dion Nash’s cricketing career

• Nash's career statistics
• Dion Nash Player Profile
• Timeline of Nash's cricket career
• Articles about Nash's retirement
• Post your tribute to Dion Nash in the Guestbook

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