BASHLEY stalwart Kevin Nash has called time on his illustrious career.

Injuries finally took their toll on the seamer – who had been within a whisker of reaching a remarkable wicket-taking milestone.

Putting his aches and pains to one side, the popular paceman finished the 2017 season with 485 wickets from his Southern League career.

Knowing the magical 500 was only 15 scalps away, Nash took to the gym and trained hard all winter to get fit for the new campaign.

But injuries which have riddled the 42-year-old towards the tail end of a league career spanning 25 years finally forced him to quit the game he loved since first picking up a bat as a 10-year-old.

He said: “I really wanted to reach that 500-wicket milestone but, pretty much every game this season, I felt an injury after about four or five overs. I think the body was telling me something.

“I picked up a few wickets but it was taking longer and longer to recover so, after 25 years of first-team cricket, I decided to call it a day, records or no records.”

Nash celebrated his 400th Southern Premier League wicket last summer.

Prior to that he had taken 83 wickets for Bashley in the old Southern League between 1995 and 1999 – before the competition became an ECB-accredited Premier League.

A former Brockenhurst College student, Nash was part of the Bashley team which won the Hampshire League back in the mid-1990s.

“I actually made my Southern League debut in 1995 and a quarter of a century later was still running up to bowl with a new ball in my right hand,” he added.

“Being part of the Bashley team which won promotion all those years ago was the high point of my club career.

"But just playing in the league so long and with and against so many top players has been very special.

“Overall, I’ll look back with an immense amount of pride at playing for Bashley, seeing the club make so many massive strides and generally develop on and off the field.”