Mignon du Preez announces retirement from international cricket

Capetown [South Africa], December 9 (ANI): Mignon du Preez, the veteran South African all-rounder, announced her retirement from international cricket on Friday.
After the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup earlier this year, Du Preez decided to stop playing Test matches and ODIs.
She ended a stellar 15-year international career on Friday, announcing that she would also retire from T20 Internationals.
Du Preez represented South Africa in 269 international games, the last of which was at the Commonwealth Games.
“Fifteen years of international cricket, wow, what a blessing it has been. It’s never an easy decision to step away from something you love as much as I love cricket, but I know in my heart that the time is right for me to announce my retirement from all forms of international cricket. I will definitely miss the change-room chats, the off-field friendships from all around the globe, travelling and learning about different cultures. However, I am extremely excited about the next phase of my life together with the ones that I love dearly and that have taken a back seat during the last 15 years of my career,” ESPNcricinfo quoted du Preez as saying in a retirement note circulated by Cricket South Africa.
The 33-year-old will be available for T20 franchise leagues, though. She has contracts with the Women’s Hundred’s Trent Rockets and the WBBL’s Hobart Hurricanes.
“However, I will still continue to play the shorter format of the game in the global leagues until such a time that I am blessed to become a mom and start a family of my own,” said the batter.
After South Africa’s successful 50-over World Cup campaign in New Zealand, where she helped lead them into their second consecutive semi-final, she announced her retirement from Test and ODI cricket, in April.
In August, she competed in her final match in South Africa colours at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.
“This is a bittersweet moment for South African cricket and the world at large as we bid farewell to one of the game’s favourite characters on the international stage. Over the last 16 years, du Preez’s professionalism and commitment shown towards her country has been exemplary… Her devoted, passionate team-first personality will be sorely missed, and I wish her the very best with the rest of her career and life after the game,” Enoch Nkwe, CSA’s director of cricket was quoted by ESPNcricinfo as saying.
After making her debut at the age of 17 in 2007, she played 154 ODIs, 114 T20Is, and one Test, in which she led and scored a hundred. She finished as South Africa’s all-time leading ODI run scorer.
She participated in seven T20 World Cups in total, and throughout that time she oversaw South Africa’s evolution from a team with little experience to one of the top contenders of world titles.
She took over as the team’s permanent captain in 2011 and served in that capacity for five years before resigning to concentrate on her batting. She captained South Africa in all 46 One Day Internationals, 50 Twenty20 Internationals, and the lone Test the side has played since her debut. (ANI)