Swann leaves with parting shot

London - Graeme Swann delivered a full-blooded parting shot at some of his England team-mates on Sunday, claiming "they have no idea how far up their own backsides they are".

The off-spinner stunned the sport by announcing his immediate retirement from all forms of cricket following England's defeat to Australia in the Ashes.

But the 34-year-old is not going quietly.

"Some people playing the game at the minute have no idea how far up their own backsides they are," Swann said in comments carried by the Daily Telegraph ahead of the fourth Test which starts in Melbourne on Thursday.

"It will bite them on the arse one day and when it does I hope they look back and are embarrassed about how they carry on."

Swann did not identify the players he was most disenchanted with, but in his autobiography 'The Breaks Are Off', published two years ago, he doubted Kevin Pietersen's credentials as a captain.

Pietersen was "never the right man to captain England" - a position the batsman held only briefly before he and former coach Peter Moores lost their jobs at the start of 2009.

Swann is behind only Derek Underwood as England's most prolific wicket-taking spinner with 255 victims in his 60 Tests.