AFTER consistently coughing up blood while bowling former Australian all-rounder John Hastings has been forced to stop playing cricket indefinitely.

Following a series of tests on his lungs doctors have told Hastings, who played one Test and 29 one-day internationals for Australia, the condition could be fatal if he continues to bowl.

Hastings, 32 has already retired from first class cricket but had signed to play with the Sydney Sixers in the Big Bash and said he was “shattered” his career could be finished.

“It’s literally just bowling, it’s not running, I can do boxing, weight sessions, rowing, anything like that but as soon as the pressure at the crease of match intensity when I step it up, literally I just burst blood vessels in my lungs,” Hastings said.

“I walk back to my mark and cough up some blood so it’s pretty scary but they can’t tell me for sure that it’s not going to cause long-term damage so there’s a lot of grey area surrounding it.

“The important thing is I’ve been cleared of anything massively sinister so I’m healthy.

“I’m OK, it’s just I can’t bowl for the foreseeable future so I’m trying to find answers but unfortunately at the moment it’s not looking good.”

Hastings, who captained the Melbourne Stars last summer, hasn’t played since a stint in the Pakistan Super League in March and his plans to continue as a T20 specialist are over.

“It’s pretty shattering. It’s something that I’ve come to terms with now, but over the last four or five months, it’s been a very tough period,,” Hastings told RSN.

“I’ve played this game my whole life and I wanted to keep playing it, I wanted to play tournaments all around the world — that’s one of the reasons why I retired early from one-day and four-day cricket.

“To see it maybe slipping away, it’s pretty tough to take and at this stage unless something miraculous happens I won’t be able to bowl.”