Lizelle Lee retires from international cricket

Only Mignon du Preez has scored more ODI runs for South Africa than Lee

South Africa opener Lizelle Lee has retired from international cricket ahead of the white-ball leg of her country's tour of England.

The revelation comes as a significant blow to the Proteas, who are already without regular captain Dane van Niekerk to injury and lost Mignon du Preez to ODI retirement following the World Cup earlier this year.

Lee, 30, made her international debut nine years ago and became one of the most feared ball-strikers in the women's game, playing exactly 100 ODIs. She made three centuries, including a career-best unbeaten 132 against India last March. Her sole T20I hundred came against Thailand during the T20 World Cup two years ago.

"It is with a lot of mixed emotions that I announce my retirement from international cricket," she said. "From a very young age, I have lived cricket and wanted to represent my country at the highest level. Over the past eight years, I was able to live that dream and I feel I have given everything I could to the Proteas.

"I feel that I am ready for the next phase in my career and will continue to play domestic T20 cricket around the world."

Only du Preez has scored more ODI runs for South Africa than Lee, whose final international appearance came in last week's Test against England. She didn't feature in the ODI warmup defeat by England A on Thursday, and her retirement rules her out of the upcoming Commonwealth Games.

^{Lee is still set to feature in The Hundred later this summer (George Wood/Getty Images)}

"It is with great sadness that we have to bid farewell to a titan of South African cricket at a relatively young age," added Enoch Nkwe, Cricket South Africa's director of cricket, "however we wholeheartedly respect the individual's decision and her desire to move onto the next chapter of her playing career."

Lee was named as the ICC Women's Cricketer of the Year in 2021, as well as Wisden's Leading Woman Cricketer in the World for the same year.

She is due to take part in The Hundred for Manchester Originals in August, while the women's T20 circuit is showing signs of growth. The FairBreak Invitational taking took in May at the same time as the Women's T20 Challenge, with a Women's Caribbean Premier League scheduled for later this summer and talk of a Women's Indian Premier League beginning in 2023.

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