Darwin: Australia’s Glenn McGrath said on Friday he had considered quitting cricket just a week before taking five wickets against Sri Lanka in the first Test. The 34-year-old, on his comeback after a 12-month injury lay-off during which he had ankle surgery, said: “I’ve gone from ready to retire to couldn’t be happier with the way I’ve bowled.”

McGrath said he had had a conversation with teammate Justin Langer last week while playing in Darwin for Northern Territory against Sri Lanka. “It was a bit of a roller-coaster ride,” McGrath said. “After Day II I was pretty disappointed with the way I bowled. I did mention to Justin that I could quite easily retire then. He had a bit of a chat to me. I woke up the next morning and the ankle felt great. Justin thinks you’ve got to hit rock bottom before you can really turn things around. You look at the guys, Sir Richard Hadlee and Kapil Dev, they were both in front of me but not too many wickets away,” McGrath added. “There were a few stages there that I wondered if I would ever catch them. So to get those five wickets and go past two legends of the game is a pretty big buzz.” (Reuters)