South Africa cricketer Heinrich Klaasen, who was reportedly planning to play the 2027 ODI World Cup, recently retired from all forms of international cricket at the age of 33. Here’s why.
Earlier on Tuesday (June 2), Klaasen called time on his international career. Having already bid adieu to a Test career spanning four matches between 2019 and 2023, Klaasen had previously shown his willingness to focus on white-ball cricket. The latest decision comes after he was left out of South Africa's central contract released in April, with reports suggesting that he might have turned down an offer, in order to play T20 franchise cricket more freely.
What led to Klaasen's sudden retirement?
According to a Rapport report, Klaasen had originally intended to play for South Africa till the 2027 ODI World Cup at home, but Rob Walter’s resignation as South Africa’s white-ball coach two years before the completion of his contract left him on uncertain grounds.
Following the appointment of Shukri Conrad as all-format coach, Klaasen reportedly failed to reach a mutual agreement with Cricket South Africa (CSA) to participate in the four franchise leagues he desired – the IPL, Major League Cricket (MLC), SA20, and The Hundred. The player was quick to deny the notion that there were personal problems between him and Conrad, though.
"I felt for a long time that I didn’t really care about any of my performances and whether the team won or not. That’s the wrong place to be," Klaasen told Rapport.
South Africa's choice of pacer to partner Kagiso Rabada and Marco Jansen in the World Test Championship final could well come down to recent form.
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Klaasen: We planned everything up to and including the 2027 World Cup
"I had a long conversation with Rob before the Champions Trophy, and I told him I didn’t feel good in my heart about what was going on. I wasn’t enjoying it that much. We talked nicely, we planned everything nicely up to and including the World Cup in 2027. So when he finished as coach and the [contract] negotiations [with CSA] didn’t go as planned, it made my decision a lot easier."
Klaasen’s desire to play in the MLC and The Hundred would have made him unavailable for both the Zimbabwe-New Zealand tri-series and Australia’s white-ball tour, and that is likely the sticking point in negotiations with CSA, claims the report.
The batter, who is also father to a two-and-a-half-year-old daughter, revealed that his desire to spend more time with his young family also contributed to the sudden retirement: "Now I can spend six, seven months at home. My family needs it, it’s been a long four years with a lot of travel. I need a little rest."
He retires with exactly 1,000 runs to his name in T20Is, and 2,141 in ODI cricket – averaging upwards of 40 and striking at nearly 120 runs per 100 balls in the latter.
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