After retiring from ODI cricket following the World Cup Final in March and from the five-day format of the game after the final Ashes Test of the summer, former Australia captain Michael Clarke has pulled out of his Big Bash deal with the Melbourne Stars, fuelling speculation that his retirement from all cricket could be imminent.

Having signed a two-year contract with the Stars in April, in which he agreed to captain the 2015 semi-finalists, the 34-year-old announced on Triple M Melbourne’s breakfast radio show that he was to take an indefinite break from the game.

“I just think my body and mind need time away from the game of cricket,” said the right-hander, “I just need to take myself away from the game of cricket for a little while, just to see what that’s like.”

.@MClarke23 confirms on @mmmhotbreakfast that he has withdrawn from playing with the Stars this summer. #BBL05 — Melbourne Stars (@StarsBBL) September 1, 2015

Clarke’s long-term back injury undoubtedly contributed to this decision; he missed his side’s Test series win against India last year due to it, and has struggled on-and-off with it for many years. Another contributing factor is his wife, Kyly, who is currently pregnant with the couple’s first child. Clarke continued: “With all the emotion over the last 10 months or so, I felt now was the right time to have some meaningful time away from the game and focus on the next exciting phase of my life, which will include the birth of our first child.” “I have made this decision now, as I didn’t want to let the Stars down if I wasn’t 100% committed to playing. I will reassess everything cricket-related sometime in the new year. The Stars have been particularly supportive of me and I’m sure I will be involved with this fantastic Club in some capacity in the future,” he added. The Stars’ CEO Clint Cooper said, “Whilst we are saddened for fans to not be able to see Michael Clarke play with the Stars this summer, we are absolutely confident that the squad we have assembled has the capability and flexibility to perform well this summer.” His replacement should be announced in the next week, according to the club’s statement.

Despite stating that he would look to rediscover “the love and the passion I’ve always had for the game,” it is more than possible that the batsman will not return to the domestic game; at his age and with his injury record, the incentive of winning a Big Bash title may not prove strong enough for him to play again.

Furthermore, Clarke’s modest record in Twenty20 cricket – he has scored 737 runs at an average of 21.05 and a strike rate of 108.22 in his 40 innings – may lead him to question whether he would be capable of making significant contributions to the game.

With his body likely to be unable to support him playing all formats of the domestic game, he will probably not play first-class cricket again in the Sheffield Shield, and despite his reputation, he is unlikely to gain an IPL contract, due to his average record in the shortest form of the game.

Thus, it may be only the Big Bash left open to him, and a coaching role may seem more attractive to the man who won 24 of his 47 Tests as captain. There is, of course, the option of a Caribbean Premier League or County Cricket contract, but given he will have a young child to support by the time he makes a decision about his future, he may well want to have a stable base in Australia.

Could this be a modest, understated retirement for the New South Wales-born batsman? It looks very possible that his Triple M Melbourne interview was the platform for just that.