HAMISH BIDWELL
Campbell Furlong has hung up the bowling boots for the third, and final, time.
After a first-class career stretching back to the 1994/95 season, the 32-year old offspinner said Central Districts' 26-run State Shield win over Auckland on Eden Park's Outer Oval was definitely his last match at all representative
levels.
"I've got my chartered accountancy exams later this year and this is it for me," Furlong told SportToday this morning.
"The guys gave me a good send-off last night and I said to them that it's not easy to retire, for the third time, but that's it. It's been a great opportunity to be able to come and play again this season and it was nice to be able to contribute and do okay, but it's time to move on.
"Robbie Schaw's been on the sidelines for the last three or four games and it's his time now."
Furlong made 33 in CD's total of 232 yesterday, before taking two for 33 as Auckland's was bowled out for just 206. After a frustrating season from a team point of view, Furlong said the win means he leaves the game satisfied.
"It's funny, I don't think I appreciated how lucky I was to be playing, first time around. I was always pretty hard on myself and my own harshest critic and I'm not sure how much I enjoyed it.
"So to have a couple of years off, walk straight back into the side and be able to show that I could still play was really good. Mind you, with my second-to-last ball, Chris Martin cover-drove me for four and when that happens, you know your time is up," Furlong joked.
It's ironic that in Furlong's last game the Stags finally produced the kind of cricket that had made them the team to beat in the one-day game over the last few seasons.
"It was a good performance and good to finally finish on the right side of the ledger. It's a shame that it meant we still didn't finish higher than fifth, but beating Auckland is always good," Furlong said.
