Northampton, July 10 (SocialNews.XYZ) South Africa skipper Sune Luus admitted that swashbuckling opener Lizelle Lee's sudden retirement from international cricket is a big loss, but reflected on its optimistic side, saying that it creates an opening for some youngsters to begin their journey in international cricket.
On Friday, Lizelle, who travelled with the South Africa side as a member of their all-format tour of England, announced her retirement from international cricket with immediate effect, ending a career which began in 2013.
Lizelle, a recipient of the ICC Women's ODI Cricketer of the Year 2021, further said she will continue to play domestic T20 cricket around the world. In women's ODIs, Lizelle amassed 3,315 runs in 100 matches, including 23 half-centuries and three centuries at an average of 36.42, with a career-best score of 132 not out against India in Lucknow in March 2021.
"It's a big loss for us but also a big opportunity for some girls to get into the team and start their own career and journey. She told us earlier in the week. It came as a shock to all of us but she has given eight good years to her country and we all respect her decision. It's her personal decision and we respect her decision regarding her retirement," said Sune ahead of South Africa's first ODI against England at Northampton on Monday.
Lizelle's retirement means that the ODI series against England offers a great chance to young players like Andrie Steyn and Lara Goodall, who performed outstandingly well during the series in Ireland, to seal a permanent spot in the top-order.
"It is very exciting for us to have a young top four and a young squad at the moment. We are all quite excited about it and just to see what the girls can bring to the table, it's a big opportunity for some girls to put up their hands to secure their spot in that top four and in the batting order as well."
"The conversations stay very simple. As a batter your job is to score runs, so that doesn't change no matter who the opponent is. That will be the focus for tomorrow; to keep our head down, bat and score as many runs as we can," stated Sune.
This will be the first time South Africa will play England ever since the Proteas were defeated by the Heather Knight-led side by 137 runs in the second semi-final of ICC Women's Cricket World Cup 2022 in New Zealand earlier this year. Sune insisted that her side will use the semi-final loss as added motivation to put up a better performance against England.
"It put things into perspective, and we just had a team meeting about it, saying how much we want to get that win on the board. In the semifinal we had a lot of opportunities and just didn't take them. I feel that game could have gone a whole other way and our World Cup journey could have been a bit different."
"With that mindset, we go into tomorrow just knowing that we have to take every opportunity, so that we make sure we are on top and don't give them that satisfaction again."
Source: IANS
About Gopi
Gopi Adusumilli is a Programmer. He is the editor of SocialNews.XYZ and President of AGK Fire Inc.
He enjoys designing websites, developing mobile applications and publishing news articles on current events from various authenticated news sources.
When it comes to writing he likes to write about current world politics and Indian Movies. His future plans include developing SocialNews.XYZ into a News website that has no bias or judgment towards any.
He can be reached at gopi@socialnews.xyz