Mark Waugh announces his retirement from first-class cricket at the SCG on Monday. (AFP)

Sydney: Mark Waugh announced on Monday he is ready to leave the first-class arena, thus ending distinguished career spanning almost two decades. The 38-year-old quit international cricket in 2002 after being dropped from Australia’s one-day and Test teams.

“I’m getting older and I think the time is right to go now,” Waugh said at the SCG. One of Australia’s most elegant and accomplished batsmen, Waugh said he would hang up his bat after the domestic season finished next month.

“I’ve enjoyed my last two seasons for New South Wales, having won the double last year and seeing a number of young players develop this year. At 38, now is the right time to retire after almost 20 years of first-class cricket.”

Waugh has played 366 first-class matches, scoring 26,765 runs at an average of 52.07, with a highest score of 229 not out. He also played 128 Tests, making 8,029 runs at 41.81, and is Australia’s leading run-scorer in ODIs.

Waugh, whose twin brother Steve quit the Test team in January and also plans to quit first-class cricket next month, said he wanted to choose the timing of his retirement. “It’s better than being dropped... it’s good to go out on your own terms,” he said. “There’s some good younger players in the team, so I think it’s time for them to step up and myself and Stephen to walk away.”

Waugh made his first-class debut in 1985 but did not make his maiden Test appearance until 1991, when he was called up at the expense of his brother, scoring a century against England to mark the occasion. That same season, the twins shared a world record fifth-wicket first-class partnership of 464 for New South Wales against Western Australia, and established themselves as regulars in the Test team.

They played more than 100 Tests together over the next decade, easily a record for two brothers, and helped Australia win the 1999 World Cup.

The lowest point in his career came in 1998 when he was fined, along with Shane Warne, after admitting taking money off an illegal Indian bookmaker in exchange for information about pitch and weather conditions. (Reuters)