Should the Proteas really welcome back players like Quinton de Kock and Dane van Niekerk with open arms?

There’s just something unpleasant about players retiring from international sport, for whatever reason, and then changing their minds later on and being welcomed back to their national side.

I’m talking specifically about Quinton de Kock and Dane van Niekerk. De Kock is a magnificent talent as the Proteas wicketkeeper-opener in the limited-over formats, while Van Niekerk has been a rock in the top order for the women’s side while also bowling handy leg-spinners whenever needed.

Here’s the thing though, both players announced sudden retirements from the game at relatively young ages.

De Kock retired from One-Day Internationals after the 2023 Cricket World Cup, which followed his retirement from Test cricket in December 2021. Though he never retired from T20Is, he did not appear in a Proteas jersey since the 2024 T20 World Cup final. De Kock turns 33 later this month, and his record across all formats of the game makes him one of the greats of the game.

De Kock’s Return to Cricket and Van Niekerk’s Fitness Challenges

At the time, De Kock said the constant touring had taken a toll on him. But after two years, as he realised the majority of his life will be spent not playing cricket, he had decided to throw his name back in the hat.

It’s taken some time as he had to start out in a low-key T20I against Namibia, but in his sixth match back, he notched up a magnificent 123 not out against Pakistan in Faisalabad in their ODI on November 6. Half centuries on either side of that ton certainly helped underline his return.

With Van Niekerk, the Proteas women’s veteran with 194 caps to her name, made her shock announcement when she wasn’t picked for her country for the Women’s T20 Cricket World Cup on home soil in 2023.

The reason she wasn’t included was because she failed a fitness test after failing to run 2km in 9 minutes 30 seconds. That time trial seems to no longer be part of the fitness requirements for the Proteas though.

When Van Niekerk failed that fitness test, she had been returning from a long-term injury— a broken ankle. It was a race against time for her to recover in time and regain full fitness, and quite unsurprisingly, she failed to pass the test.

Van Niekerk’s Retirement Reversal: A Case of Exceptions in Cricket

Shortly after that though, Van Niekerk announced her shock decision to retire and hit out at a ‘lack of support from CSA’ despite her previous years of service. It was clear she felt victimised, even though she did not acknowledge that she shouldn’t have expected to pass a fitness test so soon after injury.

For me, it was a rather petulant way to end her career, and CSA could not have been blamed for holding a grudge.

Fortunately for Van Niekerk, after an apology, CSA didn’t hold that grudge, and her decision to reverse her retirement has seen her given the opportunity to play for her country again.

If Van Niekerk, 32, had not wanted to play cricket for the Proteas again, I’m quite sure there would have been no apology.

No player is ever bigger than the game; we’ve seen this with even bigger names in the past when there was talk of AB de Villiers possibly returning to the Proteas. However, it seems there are exceptions— and I’m not a fan of that.

@Michael_Sherman

IOL Sport

* The views expressed are not necessarily the views of IOL or Independent Media.

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