Dané van Niekerk, a former captain of South Africa and all-rounder, is reportedly planning to announce her retirement from international cricket. Cricket South Africa (CSA) is not formally aware of the situation because they will be announcing the national women’s contracts later this month. The player and CSA are yet to make an official announcement regarding the former’s departure from international cricket.
Incidentally, the Proteas’ long-time reliable skipper was left off the team for the recently finished T20 World Cup. On September 19, 2021, she last participated in an international game, an ODI match against the West Indies.
Marizanne Kapp, the top female all-rounder in South Africa and the wife of the former Proteas captain, posted a message on her official social media account in honor of her spouse’s retirement. Such an age, Dané van Niekerk captioned his retweet of the article.
Before the T20 World Cup, Dané van Niekerk did not satisfy the required level of fitness.
Due to a broken ankle she sustained in November 2021, the spin bowling all-rounder was primarily forced to watch from the sidelines. She was cut from the World Cup roster after failing to match the national team’s fitness standards upon her return. Suné Luus, who led the team to their first World Cup final, took her spot on the national team. Dané van Niekerk missed the cutoff time by 18 seconds while running the 2-kilometer distance in accordance with South Africa’s fitness standards for female cricketers, which are 9 minutes and 30 seconds.
She later worked as a pundit for the major competition, and she is currently playing for the Royal Challengers Bangalore team in the current Women’s Premier League (WPL). At the auction held in December, the Bangalore-based franchise purchased her services for her standard fee of INR 30 lakhs.
Van Niekerk participated in 107 one-day international matches for South Africa, amassing 2175 runs and 138 wickets. She participated in 86 T20I matches, scoring 1877 runs at a strike rate of 94.94 and taking 65 wickets with a 5.45 economy rate while scoring 65 runs. At Mysore, she took just one wicket during her one and only Test match against India.