On April 7, South Africa’s leading run-getter, Mignon du Preez decided to hang up her boots from playing ODI and Test cricket. The right-handed batter was last seen playing for the Proteas in the recently concluded ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup that was played in New Zealand from March 4 to April 3. South Africa qualified for the semi-finals, however, curtains were drawn on their journey, when they suffered a crushing defeat from England in the penultimate match of the World Cup.
Over her illustrious international career that spanned 15 years, this prolific batter made several useful contributions through her bat as well as through her leadership skills. Du Preez made her ODI debut against Pakistan in Pretoria on January 22, 2007. She was just 17 years old then. Since then, she featured in 154 ODIs and mustered 3760 runs, which is the highest for a South African player in women’s ODIs. She also registered a couple of centuries and 18 half-centuries in the process.
Seven years after her ODI debut, she played her first Test in 2014. It was against India at Mysore. She had a memorable debut as she scored a delectable century to join the elite club of women cricketers to register a Test century on debut. She became only the 12th player overall and the first South African to do so in the history of women’s Tests. She was also the captain of the side.
Did you know? 🤔
Mignon Du Preez scored 102 in 253 balls in her debut test match in Mysore in 2014.
It is unfortunate that she played just 1 Test in her 15-year long international career#TeamSouthAfrica 📸The Hindu pic.twitter.com/ucTqFG63Rx
— Female Cricket #CWC22 (@imfemalecricket) April 7, 2022
Through her journey, she achieved many milestones. In 2010, du Preez was awarded the Women’s Cricketer of the Year and in 2011, she was named as the captain of South Africa. She led the Proteas in 50 T20Is and 46 ODIs between 2011 and 2016. She enjoyed a success rate of 50 percent, winning 24 T20Is and as many ODIs. In 2017, she became the first player from South Africa to feature in 100 WODIs and in 2022, she again became the first player from South Africa to represent her country in 150 ODIs. In between during the 2020 ICC Women’s World T20 that was played in Australia, she became the first player from South Africa to take part in 100 WT20Is.
BREAKING NEWS:
South Africa’s Mignon du Preez has announced her retirement from Test and ODI cricket with immediate effect, confirms Cricket South Africa
She will continue to play T20Is.#TeamSouthAfrica pic.twitter.com/7Crh6gBdcr
— Female Cricket #CWC22 (@imfemalecricket) April 7, 2022
In her announcement, du Preez mentioned that she was calling it quits from ODIs and Tests in order to focus more on the shortest format of the game. South Africa will be hosting the ICC Women’s World T20 in 2023 and there is seldom any doubt that this prolific batter would want to stamp her authority in the mega event.
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