Former South African skipper and veteran batter, Mignon du Preez, who early this year announced her retirement from One-Day International (ODI) following South Africa’s Semi-Final exit from the Women’s 50-over World Cup has now, months away from the upcoming Twenty20 (T20) World Cup has announced her retirement from all forms of international cricket.
The 33-year-old represented South Africa in 154 ODIs and scored 3760 runs at an average of 32.98 and has got two centuries and 18 fifties in the format alone with her highest score of 116*. She only happened to play a Test in her career and scored 119 runs in the game at an average of 59.50, her lone outing included a magnificent century.
With a home, Twenty20 (T20) Women’s World Cup just around the corner, South Africa undoubtedly are hit by the absence of yet another senior player, and Mignon’s numbers in T20Is see her with 1805 runs in 104 innings at an average of 20.98, a strike rate of 101.23, and has got 7 fifties to her name with the highest score of 69.
An insight into her stats sees her, at home, in 36 innings with 515 runs under her belt at an average of 21.45 and the highest being a 52. Her best in 2022 by far wasn’t on display as she off 6 innings only managed 55 runs and at an average of 11.00 got to the highest score of 26. The dip in form could well be the reason behind her deciding to call time on her 16-year-long illustrious career.
Mignon du Preez captained the side from 2011-16 on as many as 50 occasions and the added responsibility seemed to have got a lot out of her as she scored 934 runs at an average of 24.57 and her career-best score of 69 too had come during the same period. A captaincy highlight of many has got to be her leading South Africa to the Semi-Finals of the Women’s T20 World Cup in 2014.
Mignon did well on most occasions to chip in with quick runs and often also looked to play an anchors role in finishing the game, if not Mignon du Preez the batter, South Africa is bound to miss Mignon du Preez the leader who’s got a lot experience under her belt, including International Cricket Council (ICC) events.
South Africa was struck by another crucial retirement this year and her presence would surely have lit the home World Cup for South Africa in every possible fashion, she’s none other than the super striker, Lizelle Lee.
Lizelle Lee, in her career of 184 matches, played 82 T20I games that she dominated in with a healthy strike rate of 110, and her 60-ball 100 against Thailand happens to be her best T20I knock. Having finished her career with 1896 runs under her belt, Lee is South Africa’s highest run scorer in the 20-over format and in every possible sense will be a major missing for South Africa in the home World Cup and the Commonwealth Games was an example of the same.