Saturday, May 26, 2018

On Wednesday, South African cricketer AB de Villiers announced his retirement from international cricket. The 34-year-old batsman uploaded a video message on Twitter saying it was a “tough decision” and he was “tired”.

De Villiers joined the national team, the Proteas, in 2004, featuring in a test match against England. Since then, the South African talisman has featured in 114 test matches for the Proteas, scoring 8765 runs. He has 22 test centuries to his name, the most recent one coming against Australia in March. South Africa went on to win the test series 3–0.

De Villiers’ batting average is above 50 in both test matches and One Day International (ODI) matches. De Villiers has featured in 228 ODI and 78 Twenty20 (T20) matches as well scoring 9577 and 1672 runs in ODIs and T20s respectively.

In a match against the West Indies at the Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg on January 18, 2015, De Villiers scored 149 runs from 44 balls. In that match, De Villiers scored the fastest half-century in ODIs, reaching 50 runs from seventeen balls, as well as the fastest century in ODIs, with 100 runs from 31 balls.

Chris Nenzani, the President of Cricket South Africa, said, “AB is one of the all-time greats of South African cricket who has thrilled spectators around the world”.

De Villiers announced his retirement four days after he finished his Indian Premier League season with Royal Challengers Bangalore. In the video statement, De Villiers said, “I have no plans to play overseas, in fact, I hope I can continue to be available for the Titans in domestic cricket.”