Former Sri Lanka cricket captain Kumar Sangakkara says he will retire from first-class cricket after this season. who quit Test cricket in 2015, is fifth in the list of all-time Test run scorers.
During an interview with BBC Sport Sangakkara stated that "You try to fight the inevitable but you need to get out while you're ahead," and "It's the last time I'll play a four-day game here [at Lord's]. I'll be 40 in a few months, this is about the end of my time in county cricket."
Sangakkara, Widely regarded as one of the world's most influential cricketers has contracts to honour in Twenty20 competitions taking him into 2018, but added: "My career might have a few more months [left] but that's about it."
He averaged more than 57 runs across 134 Tests, making 11 double centuries in that time, and joined Surrey for the 2015 season. He scored more than 1,000 first-class runs last season but, despite hitting two centuries against Middlesex over the weekend.
Sangakkara, who is recognized as one of the "most polished and prudent of batsmen" in cricket. believes September is the right time to end his career in the longer format.
"The biggest mistake that sometimes you can make is that you think you're better than you really are," he said. "Cricketers, or any sort of sportsperson, have an expiry date and you need to walk away.
"I have been very lucky to play for as long as I did so but there's a lot more life to be lived away from the game."
The 39-year-old Surrey batsman, will head to the Caribbean Premier League at the end of June, with Aaron Finch signed by Surrey as his replacement during that period, and he says he will continue to play cricket past the end of the English domestic season.