Perth, January 22:

Former Australian batsman Damien Martyn has moved on from Test cricket, but says the decision not to inform captain Ricky Ponting of his impending retirement is one he will always regret. Martyn finally broke his silence on his controversial and sudden retirement from international cricket in December. The 35-year-old shocked the cricket world when he announced his retirement the day the team for the third Test against England, which Australia duly won to regain the Ashes, was announced.

In explaining his decision not to tell his teammates before making the decision, Martyn said he knew he had to make a clean break and that they would have tried to talk him into seeing out the series. He said the decision not to tell Ponting was one he had been grappling with. “That’s always going to be something I have to live with. Look he’s disappointed, but to look him in the eye, I would have broke down, I would have been in tears and I don’t think I could have said what I wanted to say,” he said.