Gavin Hamilton calls time on distinguished Scotland career

The 35-year-old, one of Scotland's most successful players of all time, will play his final game for the country in Sunday's CB40 clash with Leicestershire in Aberdeen.

Hamilton, who took part in one Test match for England, cited a combination of work commitments and personal pride for reaching the decision to retire.

He said: "It is really a build-up of circumstances and part of it is that I don't want to go down the slippery slope of being a liability to the team. Due to work commitments, I simply don't have the time to train and practise and there is only so long you can get away with that. I always promised myself I would stop playing when I still felt I was doing a decent job and personal pride is really the bottom line."

Broxburn-born Hamilton was a teenager when he burst onto the international stage in spectacular fashion, bowling England legend Ian Botham in his first over for Scotland in 1993. Six years later he played a starring role during Scotland's first appearance at a World Cup where he scored more runs than any England batsman.

His performances earned a call-up to the English team for their 2000 tour to South Africa but in his one and only Test match he failed to score a run or take a wicket. Hamilton, though, continued to thrive south of the Border where he was a regular for Yorkshire for more than a decade before ending his county career at Durham.

Free of county commitments, Hamilton returned to play for his country and was made captain in 2009. He relinquished the captaincy after Scotland's ODI against England this June.

Initially a bowling all-rounder, Hamilton had to re-invent himself as a specialist batsman following a catastrophic loss of form with the ball. The success of the transformation can be gauged from the fact that Hamilton retires as Scotland's leading ODI batsman in terms of both run aggregate (1,232) and average (35.2). He added: "I've had many highlights in my career and the 1999 World Cup sticks out as one of the best. I was also extremely proud to captain my country and skippering the team at the T20 World Cup last year was an absolutely fantastic experience. Now is the right time to go because Scotland are moving towards a younger team and there's no point in me taking up a place that could go to an up-coming player. There are a still a couple of matches left this season for the selectors to look at someone else and start building for next season."

By the time he steps down on Sunday, Hamilton will have played 132 matches for Scotland.

Meanwhile, Saltires star Richie Berrington has been nominated for the ICC's Associate Player of the Year award, the winner of which will be announced in October.