Pakistan’s Malik retires from tests

(Reuters) – Pakistan batsman Shoaib Malik is to retire from test cricket at the end of the current match against England in Sharjah, he said on Tuesday.

Malik, 33, made a shock return to test cricket at the beginning of the three-match series in the United Arab Emirates, marking his comeback with a career-best 245 in Abu Dhabi.

He has since scored 47 runs in five innings, including a golden duck in his last one on Tuesday, but he did record his best test bowling figures of four for 33 on the day he announced his retirement.

“We have some good youngsters and now is the time to retire,” Malik, who made his test debut in 2001, told reporters.

He scored more than 1,800 runs in 35 tests.

(Reporting by Neville Dalton, Editing by Ed Osmond)