WELLINGTON, Feb 3: New Zealand batsman Scott Styris announced his retirement from Test cricket on Sunday, saying he wanted to focus on One-day Internationals and Twenty20.

The 32-year-old said he had to reduce his workload because of niggling injuries and believed he could prolong his career if he concentrated on the abbreviated forms of the game.

“I want to play for New Zealand for as long as I can,” he told the New Zealand Press Association on Sunday.

“At the moment I feel with the amount of injuries I’m getting, if I don’t knock something on the head I won’t be around in 12 months time.

“I’d like to play another World Cup and if I’m to get through to it (2011) something has to give.”

Styris has played 29 Tests for New Zealand. He has scored 1,586 runs at an average of 36.04 and made five centuries, with a high score of 170 but was dropped before last month’s series against Bangladesh.

Styris has also played 142 One-day Internationals, scoring 3,440 runs at an average of 33.074 with four hundreds and a high score of 141.

Styris’s announcement comes just a week after fast bowler Shane Bond confirmed his retirement to join the rebel Indian Cricket League.

Styris is expected to join the exodus of retired Test stars joining the lucrative Indian Premier League, although he said that was not the motivation for his decision to quit Tests.—Reuters