Prolific Saurashtra batter Sheldon Jackson on Tuesday retired from professional cricket after a career spanning 15 years, his last outing ending in a defeat to Gujarat in the Ranji Trophy quarterfinal here. Jackson, 38, retires with more than 7200 runs in 105 first-class matches with a highest score of 186, 21 hundreds and 39 half-centuries. That he ended his career with an average of over 45 speaks volumes about his consistency in first-class cricket. Story continues below this ad Jackson has been a multidimensional cricketer and besides being a reliable batsman and an excellent fielder. He also kept wickets for Saurashtra in the limited-over competitions. In the longer format, however, he was not required to do the duty thanks to Sagar Jogiyani’s presence. He scored 14 and 27 in his final two outings as Gujarat won by an innings and 98 runs. Jackson, who was once part of the Kolkata Knight Riders set-up after being spotted by former Bengal player Joydeep Mukherjee, made his debut for Saurashtra in December 2011. Story continues below this ad …