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

Vettori arrived here on Tuesday 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, joining Australia's Michael Clarke, Sri Lanka pair Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene, Zimbabwe batsman Brendon Taylor and Pakistan duo 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 on Tuesday.

"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)," he added.