The fact that Dwaine Pretorius’ retirement statement on Monday garnered as much attention as one from a mediocre all-rounder who primarily bowls in white-ball matches says a lot about the status of South African cricket.
Pretorius will turn 34 in March. 27 ODIs, 30 T20Is, and three Tests were all played by him. He had an economy rate of 4.96 for ODIs and 8.28 for T20s, with a test bowling average of 36.00. In each of the white-ball versions, he reached the fifty-run mark, totalling 83 runs in six innings in the Test match.
Furthermore, with the wickets of Mohammad Rizwan, Babar Azam, and Iftikhar Ahmed, he set a South African T20I record of 5/17 against Pakistan at Lahore in February 2021. Who knows how things could have turned out if he had not had a fractured thumb while taking 3/26 against India in a T20I in Indore in October, excluding him from the ensuing T20 World Cup.
Pretorius’ fierce competition mode
He continues to be a fierce competitor and a legitimate matchwinner at the franchise level thanks to his ability to kiss the pitch as regularly and intelligently as he smacks the ball hard and his fluid athleticism in the field. According to all accounts, Pretorius is one of the rare athletes in any locker room who is as well-liked and respected by his teammates.
He is not, however, a world-beater at the greatest level. Nevertheless, the news that he had retired his South African shirts provoked unexpected responses on social media. The statements that Pretorius made, such as “a sad day,” “a huge, huge loss,” and “the last thing I expected to read this morning,” would have made more sense if he had been Jacques Kallis, Shaun Pollock, or Lance Klusener.
The latter’s decision to remove himself from CSA’s shortlist to become the men’s team’s next white-ball coach, which was also made public on Monday, was received either as CSA’s fault or as a shrewd move by Klusener to avoid getting involved with such a dysfunctional organization – forget that he applied for the job in the first place – or as opposite ends of the same issue.
Comments about his retirement
#Proteas all-rounder Dwaine Pretorius retires from international cricket 🇿🇦
"I made one of the toughest decisions of my cricketing career. I have decided to retire from all forms of international cricket." – Pretorius 🗨️
Full statement 🔗 https://t.co/2MgXNFqePe#BePartOfIt pic.twitter.com/N4pX987Ktr
— Proteas Men (@ProteasMenCSA) January 9, 2023
Fans were giving mixed reaction towards his retirement. Some even stated that his retirement is nothing to fret about as he did not contribute much to cricket. Others claim that South African players like him do not care about their fans.
There were plenty that supported him as well stating that it will be a loss for the T20 league. Other fans were blaming the political situation in South Africa for the retirement of these players.
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