IAIN O'Brien has called time on his cricket career after recognising that he would not be able to beat a long-term lower back injury.

O'Brien, the Matlock-based New Zealand Test fast bowler, had retired from international cricket in 2009 to start a family with his wife, Rosie. They have a one-year-old daughter, Alethea.

The last two years of O'Brien's career had been blighted by both injuries and a wrangle with the England & Wales Cricket Board over his international status.

He missed the end of the 2010 season with a hamstring injury and then needed an operation which ruled him out of the 2011 season.

But he travelled to New Zealand for his home country's domestic season with high hopes of making his comeback for his domestic first-class side, Wellington.

All the while, the back injury was in the background and O'Brien revealed that it has troubled him since 2003.

"My lower back is in bad shape. It's just had enough," he said.

"I've been blessed with a career in cricket, something I never took for granted.

"I was told in 2003, after an X-ray, that I had the lower back of a 60-year-old – I was 27.

"The degeneration, even back then, was well advanced. The radiologist and specialist who read an MRI scan that I had before the two Test series in South Africa in 2007, suggested I should become a spectator, right then.

"I played that series and have since played my best cricket.

"Sure pain has always been there. I've cried in changing rooms and hotels all around the world but how could I walk away?"

Last year, O'Brien also gave an emotional interview in which he revealed that he had been another international cricketer who had suffered from the mental health problems associated with the lifestyle of the professional game.

England's Marcus Tresco-thick, Michael Yardy and Andrew Flintoff have reported similar problems, as has the recently-retired Derbyshire captain, Luke Sutton.

When he had set up home with Rosie in Matlock, O'Brien played county cricket first for Leicestershire and then for a season at Middlesex.

But a three-year contract with the London side was cut short when he could not get the ECB to agree that his residency and marriage to an English girl should stop him from being classed as an overseas player.

As it turned out, the hamstring injury would have stopped him playing anyway.

"An employment issue cut my career in the UK short but I didn't want to give up playing cricket," he said.

"I knew I still had more to give, I wanted more. I was doing everything I could to get back out for the Wellington Firebirds and, if good enough, back into the NZ team.

"That was the dream. That was the motivation. But I now know I'll never play for NZ again. So, on that note, I know it's time to walk away.

"Injury has cut me short but I will walk away happy and proud of what I've achieved."

That was a reasonable amount, despite a relatively short first-class career.

O'Brien made his New Zealand debut in 2005 but one wicket in each of two Tests against Australia was a harsh introduction and he fell off the selectors' radar for a year.

When he returned, the left-arm fast medium bowler did better, taking his tally to 73 wickets in 22 Tests at an average of 33.27, with a Test best of 6-75.

In all, there were 322 first-class wickets in 91 matches at 26.06 for a bowler noted for his wholehearted approach and willingness to do the dirty work, such as bowling into the wind, for his captain.

O'Brien was also popular in grassroots cricket circles – and will surely remain so – as the absolute opposite of an aloof superstar.

He played club cricket for north Derbyshire club Glapwell in the Bassetlaw League in 2006 and appeared for South Wingfield in Division Two of the Derbyshire County League in 2007.

While doing so, he maintained banter with local club cricketers on the forum of the local cricket website thefollowon.com – players would be scathing about his pace, or lack of it, and it was a running joke he enjoyed.

For the next couple of months, O'Brien is continuing to work as a radio commentator in Wellington during the New Zealand season.

But he will return to his Matlock home in April and has commentary work for the BBC lined up.

He will also be circulating the counties with his coaching credentials and has ambitions in that area.

"I'd like to get into coaching in the UK, perhaps an assistant coach role, or as a second team coach – hopefully, leading towards a dream job as an international bowling coach," he said.