Former NZ batsman calls time on career

Former New Zealand Test batsman Peter Fulton has announced his retirement from first-class cricket.

The 38-year-old made his Canterbury first-class debut in the last match of the 2000-01 summer and has since played 16 full seasons at that level.

He has racked up a number of Canterbury first-class records in that time, including scoring the most runs (8719), taking the most catches (128) and leading the most matches as captain (66).

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A towering 1.98m tall, Fulton was nicknamed Two-Metre Peter early in his career, making his ODI debut for the Black Caps in 2004 followed by his Test debut the following year.

He earned 23 Test caps for New Zealand, played 49 one-day internationals and 12 Twenty20 matches, with his most noteworthy performance against England in 2013 when he scored 136 and 110 at Eden Park.

Fulton is also Canterbury's most-capped cricketer, with 121 appearances.

He made headlines in 2003 by extending his maiden first class century to 301 not out for Canterbury against Auckland.

Fulton said there had been mounting speculation about his retirement, but he wanted to wait until the end of the season before making his decision.

"From making my debut, I never would have thought I would play this many times and achieve these records for Canterbury," he said.

"At that stage, I was just stoked to play one. I'm very proud to have played that many games and experienced so much success with different Canterbury teams throughout my career."

Gary Stead, Fulton's coach and director of cricket at Canterbury Cricket, said Fulton would be remembered as one of Canterbury's great players.

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"The thing we will miss most about Pete is his calming influence and mentorship in the dressing room and his clarity of thought when the pressure is on".

Fulton's retirement follows Black Caps allrounder Grant Elliott's retirement from international cricket, with the 38-year-old last week signing a Kolpak deal to play with the Birmingham Bears in this year's England Twenty20 competition.

By signing with Birmingham as a Kolpak registration, South African-born Elliott does not count as one of the two overseas players each team is allowed - but does become ineligible for his country in the process.

"Securing Grant, and the earlier addition of Colin de Grandhomme, gives us the additional batting firepower that we wanted to complement a strong top order," Warwickshire's director of sport Ashley Giles said.

"He also gives us even more options with the ball and has good experience of English conditions.”

Elliott played five Tests, 83 ODIs and 16 T20s for the Black Caps.