New Zealand all-rounder Dion Nash has called time on an injury-plagued career by officially announcing his retirement from all forms of the game. Nash missed more matches (45) than he played (32) during his Test career, and his latest hip injury brought an end to his VB Series campaign in Australia earlier this year.

He said that a scan on his hip had revealed stress-related problems with the bone and helped persuade him that the time was right to move in a different direction.

"It's not just that this is one injury too many," Nash said.

"It's also the stage I'm at in my life. My motivation, self-discipline and dedication to fight back from injury have been waning, and I think it's time to direct my energies elsewhere."

Nash, 30, plans to travel overseas later in the year with his fiancee, former New Zealand netball captain Bernice Mene, before returning to further his education.

Nash also played 81 one-day internationals and regards the two-run loss against South Africa at Brisbane in the 1997-98 triangular series as one of his biggest disappointments, as well as his multitude of injuries and a suspension for smoking cannabis in 1994.

As for highlights, Nash was the first player to score a half-century and take 10 wickets in a Test at Lord's, in 1994. And on the 1999 tour of England, he helped the Kiwis to a series-clinching win in the fourth Test at the Oval.

"That's the highest I've ever been. We came out of that tour as grown men," Nash said.

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