Tash Farrant has been forced to retire from professional cricket because of a recurring back injury.
The 29-year-old Surrey and Oval Invincibles player, who was the youngest member of the England squad which won the Ashes in Australia in 2013-14, first suffered the injury four years ago.
It ruled the left-arm seamer out for a year initially, after she had twice won the Women’s Super League with Southern Vipers and the inaugural Hundred competition with Oval Invincibles in which she finished as leading wicket-taker with 18.
Even after the injury she captained South East Stars to the 2024 Charlotte Edwards Cup final and last summer helped Surrey to win the first women’s T20 Blast.
Farrant said, external: “Despite all the amazing support I have received and my best efforts to overcome injury, I have come to accept that I can no longer reach the level of performance required to compete at the standard needed.
“Not being able to perform to the high standards I set for myself, combined with the mental and physical toll of ongoing injury, has ultimately brought this chapter to a close.”
She has also worked in the media as part of their cricket coverage and said she hoped to “stay involved in the sport that means so much to me”.
Surrey director of women’s cricket Emma Calvert said Farrant had been an incredible servant to the game and an “inspiration” for many young players.
Calvert added: “She broke onto the scene at a young age and her career has spanned the significant developments in the women’s game as it has professionalised.
“To have dealt with the setbacks she has to had to handle has not been easy but her mental resilience to work through rehabilitation, conditioning and then to step back on the field and deliver her skills has been nothing short of heroic.”
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