Auckland, March 31 (IANS): Veteran New Zealand spinner Daniel Vettori on Tuesday announced his retirement from all forms of cricket.

Vettori arrived here after Sunday's World Cup final loss to Australia as New Zealand's greatest ever wicket-taker, claiming 705 international wickets in 442 matches.

The 36-year-old bowed out of cricket on a high, capturing 15 wickets in the World Cup at 20.46 runs each and was promptly named in the International Cricket Council's (ICC) "Team of the Tournament".

Vettori joined several greats to retire from One-Day International (ODI) cricket following the World Cup.

The others include Australia's Michael Clarke, Sri Lanka pair Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene, Zimbabwe batsman Brendon Taylor and Pakistan's Misbah-ul-Haq and Shahid Afridi.

"It was my last game for New Zealand, in the final, so it was a lovely way to finish," Vettori was quoted as saying by cricket.com.au.

"It would have been great to win, but I'm pretty proud of everyone, the way we've gone about things the last six weeks.

"To be able to finish in the final, albeit without a win, I'm just very grateful for the amount of support I had particularly from Brendon (McCullum) and Mike (Hesson, the coach).

"To be able to get back from a number of injuries and to be here and to be part of it is something I'll always treasure," he added.

Vettori said he was hopeful the Black Caps had brought a new legion of fans into cricket with their style of play.

"That's hopefully the legacy of this World Cup - between 1992 and this one, there's some lasting memories for everyone. Hopefully some people have fallen in love with cricket, or fallen back in love with it.

"We've had so much support the whole way round, the guys have fed off that a lot. They've really enjoyed every aspect of it," he said.

The left-arm orthodox spinner became the youngest player to represent his country in February 1997 when he made his Test debut against England 10 days after his 18th birthday.