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Health issue sees Hastings retire

Popular paceman calls time on his career after dealing with a bleeding issue on his lungs

A serious health issue causing persistent bleeding on his lungs has forced former Australia allrounder John Hastings to draw the curtain on his decorated cricket career.

Hastings, who represented Australia in all three formats, revealed last month he would miss the upcoming KFC Big Bash League season due to the illness after signing with the Sydney Sixers in May.

While the 33-year-old said he was “good health”, he risked serious injury or even death if he continued to bowl, prompting his decision to pull the pin.

A popular figure in Australian cricket, Hastings will now focus on his media commitments.

Hastings reveals career-threatening diagnosis

“I’ve gone through an extensive testing process,” Hastings told Fairfax Media.

“I suppose the important thing to note is that I’m actually in good health. I’ve gone through stress tests and bronchoscopes, and angiogram bronchoscopes and all this sort of stuff. It’s been quite invasive, and lengthy I guess.

“It’s (only) when I bowl. The pressure at the crease, little blood vessels in my lungs burst.

“That determines that I cough up blood on a regular basis when I’m trying to bowl. It’s a really scary thing.

“I’m training now, doing F45, lifting weights or boxing it doesn’t happen. It’s really only the pressure of the actual landing of bowling.

“There was just a lot of grey area surrounding long-term health, whether it was causing any damage, and if there was any potential to have a fatal bleed on the field. They just really couldn’t say yes or no. And I wasn’t happy with that.”

2016: John Hastings on fire at the MCG

The bustling paceman represented Australia in one Test, 29 ODIs and nine T20Is.

Hastings spent seven years with the Stars before deciding to return home to NSW to play with the Sixers. He retired from one-day and four-day cricket in 2017.

Hastings first became aware of the problem several years ago and said in October he had “little episodes maybe once a season for a year or two”.

“It’s just something that they can’t say, ‘look, you’re not going to have a fatal bleed on the field’ or it’s not going to cause long-term damage,” he told RSN’s the Breakfast Club at the time.

“It’s pretty shattering. I’ve come to terms with it now, but over the last four or five months it’s been a very, very tough period.

“I’ve played this game my whole life and I wanted to keep playing it. I wanted to play tournaments all around the world. That’s one of the reasons I retired early from one-day and four-day cricket.”

2015: Hastings hits three sixes in a row