Australian fast bowler John Hastings has retired from all forms of cricket fearing a mystery ailment could lead him to bleed to death on the field. The burly all-rounder, who has represented his country in all three formats of the game, revealed last month he was struggling with an illness that causes him to cough up blood whenever he bowls. He first noticed the issue several years ago and despite a battery of tests and operations is no closer to knowing why it happens.

"It's (only) when I bowl. The pressure at the crease, little blood vessels in my lungs burst," he told The Age newspaper in Melbourne on Wednesday. "That determines that I cough up blood on a regular basis when I'm trying to bowl. It's a really scary thing." The 33-year-old, who was planning to play in Australia's Twenty20 Big Bash League next month, said he was otherwise healthy. His decision to pull the pin came after doctors were unable to reassure him that he wouldn't bleed to death on the cricket pitch. "I'm training now. Lifting weights or boxing it doesn't happen. It's really only the pressure of the actual landing of bowling," he said.