The 36-year-old left-arm fast bowler, currently playing for English county Hampshire, is the only cricketer in history to take 500 one-day international wickets.

"There's an end to everything in life... I have enjoyed every bit of it," Wasim said during a break in a match against his former team Lancashire at Old Trafford, Manchester.

"There are no regrets. There have been ups and downs but I would not have changed it for anything else," Wasim told Sky Sports television.

Wasim confirmed he would not be in the Pakistan team for next month's one-day series in England.

"They're a new young side ... and they must get ready for the next World Cup," he said.

Wasim, one of the best exponents of reverse swing, reached the 500-wicket mark during this year's World Cup in South Africa, his fifth appearance in cricket's showpiece tournament.

He was man of the match in Pakistan's victory over England in the 1992 final and captained the side that lost the 1999 final to Australia.

Wasim also took 414 wickets in 104 Test matches for Pakistan, who have overlooked their former captain since their disappointing World Cup showing.

"My future is somewhere else after September, maybe in television or coaching," said Wasim.

He played the first of his record 356 one-day internationals in 1984 against New Zealand in Faisalabad and finished with 502 victims.

A powerful middle-order batsman, Wasim's best Test score was 257 not out against Zimbabwe in 1996-97. His highest one-day knock was 86.

Wasim's career has not been without controversy, notably in 2000 when he was one of six players censured and fined for not co-operating fully with an investigation commissioned by the Pakistan Cricket Board following the sport's great match-fixing scandal.

Most cricket fans, however, will remember him in his pomp in the early 1990s, long-haired, keen-eyed and quick-stepping up to the wicket before unleashing one of the quickest left arms the sport has ever seen.