Former South African skipper and veteran batter, Mignon du Preez, who early this year announced her retirement from Test and One-Day International (ODI), has now announced her retirement from all forms of international cricket and in doing so has called time on her 16-year-long international career.
The 33-year-old has represented South Africa in 154 ODIs and has scored 3760 runs at an average of 32.98 with two centuries and 18 fifties. Her best score of 116* in the ODIs was recorded against Ireland Women in Dublin in 2016. She played only a Test in her career and has scored 119 runs in the format at an average of 59.50 with one century.
In T20I cricket, she’s scored 1805 runs in 104 innings at an average of 20.98, a strike rate of 101.23, and with the highest score of 69, has got to 7 fifties in her career. Mignon du Preez led the side from 2011 to 2016 in 46 ODIs and 50 T20Is and her captaincy highlights have got to be the Semi-Finals of the Women’s T20 World Cup in 2014 and historic ODI series victories in India and Bangladesh.
BREAKING NEWS:
Mignon du Preez retires from all forms of international cricket after a career spanning almost 16 years 🇿🇦#CricketTwitter
— Female Cricket (@imfemalecricket) December 9, 2022
Enoch Nkwe, Director of Cricket South Africa (CSA) said, “On behalf of CSA and the wider cricketing fraternity, I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to Mignon for her nearly two decades of service for her country and the game of international cricket. 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.”
Mignon du Preez’s retirement statement read, “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.
“However, I will 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. Now for all the thank yous…
“A special thank you has to go to my dad for being my very first Mini-Cricket coach and for being the one who made me fall in love with this beautiful game. I am truly blessed with the best parents anyone could ever ask for. Thank you, mom and dad, for being such amazing role models and for always encouraging me to use my God-given talent.
“A special thank you has to go to Peter Harold and Curtly Diesel that invested hours into taking my game to the next level in the last couple of years. To Northerns Cricket Union, thank you for being my ‘home base’ since I was 10 years old and for naming a Gate in my honour at SuperSport Park.”
“To the fans, thank you for your ongoing support through the highs, but especially during the lows. You guys drive us to be better cricketers and to put on a show every time we step onto the field. To CSA, thank you for your continuous support, allowing me the opportunity to captain my country, and for finally making women’s cricket a viable career option in SA.
“To my teammates, thank you for all the memories that I can treasure for a lifetime. It was an honour to share the changing room and field with each one of you. I will miss you all tremendously but can’t wait to follow your journeys to success and I will definitely be rooting for you from the sidelines in the future.
“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.”
(Quotes sourced from CSA media release)
