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Neil Johnson to retire

Close on the heels of Murray Goodwin's decision to return to Perth and turn out for Western Australia after Zimbabwe's current tour of England, is the news that Neil Johnson is retiring from international cricket.

The 30-year-old will play his last match for Zimbabwe in the final of the NatWest Series on Saturday before flying home to South Africa, where he will represent Western Province next winter.

Dan Stannard, the Zimbabwe tour manager, paid tribute to Johnson, who enjoyed remarkable success in the World Cup last year with 367 runs, 12 wickets and three man-of-the-match awards, and made a match-winning unbeaten 95 against West Indies at Bristol two weeks ago.

"He's put in some wonderful performances for us," Stannard said. "There's no doubt that we'll miss him. But we've got some good youngsters coming through at our academy. We all wish him well at Province - there's no dissension within the ranks that he's going."