KEY POINTS:
Pakistan's Inzamam-ul Haq preferred to reflect on his "golden moments" yesterday after his glittering career ended in bat-smashing frustration.
The former captain needed just six runs to set a Pakistan Test runs record in his final appearance but he was stumped on three, disappointing thousands of fans at
Gaddafi Stadium.
The burly, bearded Inzamam shrugged in disgust before taking out his anger on his bat, which he smashed to bits in the dressing room.
Inzamam finished his career on 8830 career runs, including 25 hundreds in 120 Tests, just short of Javed Miandad's record of 8832.
"I wanted to play a memorable innings and help my team win the Test but it was not in my destiny," he said. "I also wanted to break Miandad's record but I don't have any regrets because Javed was a great player and influenced my career."
'Inzy', 37, whose final season was rocked by coach Bob Woolmer's death and Pakistan's disastrous World Cup, bade an emotional farewell.
"It was a career full of golden moments and I am happy to be bidding farewell to cricket," he said. "I am taking with me the love and affection of my countrymen and fans around the world. It's a treasure accumulated after 17 years of cricket and I am thankful to my parents, my wife and my teammates to provide me with these moments."
Pakistan formed an honour guard as Inzamam emerged for the prize-giving ceremony, with opposing captain Graeme Smith of South Africa also paying tribute.
"It is indeed a sad moment that a great player is retiring. So much has been said of Inzy and I think Pakistan cricket will miss him because of his great impact," said Smith.
The Pakistan Cricket Board dedicated a stand in the Gaddafi Stadium to Inzamam and presented him with a gold medal.
Inzamam, who resigned the captaincy and quit one-day cricket after Pakistan's first-round World Cup exit, ruled out any chance of reconsidering his retirement decision.
"This is my final decision and I have realised that the team is on a strong footing and under new captain Shoaib Malik is progressing well and I have no wishes of taking the decision back."
INZY'S INNINGS
* Inzamam-ul Haq, even though he missed breaking Miandad's record as Pakistan's highest runs scorer in test cricket, nonetheless stands high on cricket's all-time stastistics.
* Inzy's 329 against New Zealand in Lahore in 2002 failed by only eight runs to head off Hanif Mohammed as the highest score in Pakistan's test history and is 13th highest in all tests.
* He stands just outside the top 10 of test run scoring, with 8830 runs.
* He stands 11th on the all-time list for test hundreds. His 25 test tons was one record he did take from Miandad (23)
* He ranks sixth for test 50s (46), with only Allan Border, Steve Waugh, Brian Lara, Rahul Dravid and Mark Waugh scoring more.
