“I felt I needed to move on with my career”
Image courtesy of: ESPNcricinfo
South Africa opener Alviro Petersen has announced his retirement from international cricket following the Proteas’ 2-0 win over the West Indies in the recently concluded Test series.
Petersen has announced that he is now looking for a Kolpak deal in English county cricket.
As of right now, there are rumours that Lancashire are the frontrunners to sign Petersen, who played for Somerset last season.
“It’s something I started thinking about over the last six or eight months. I felt I needed to move on with my career,” he said. “There are some good young players coming through and I think it’s about time.”
Petersen also noted that scoring his maiden Test century on debut against India in Kolkata is one of the memories he will cherish for the rest of his life.
“Just when I walked onto the field at Eden Gardens making my debut, that was one of my best moments,” he said.
Petersen also admitted that the last couple of months have been extremely ‘frustrating’ since he has not been able to score the number of runs he would have liked.
“It was frustrating in the last couple of months and I would have liked to have scored more,” he said. “I was a little bit disappointed because I prided myself on getting in and getting big hundreds.”
Petersen’s last Test innings only lasted 10 minutes as he inside edged a delivery from West Indies spinner Sulieman Benn onto his stumps to be dismissed for a duck.
“I can’t even remember the last couple of overs last night but when I walked off the field and I realised I was out, that was the first time I started thinking about it all,” he said. “If I could play that innings again, I’d do it differently.
“South Africa has got a great leadership group. Players move on but the game will always remain. South Africa is in good hands.”
Speaking about Petersen’s decision to retire, South Africa head coach Russell Domingo said: “It’s a big loss for our team. He has been a stalwart. There has been a lot of criticism about him, and unfairly so, because he is a standout player for us.
“We’ve got a good nucleus of players so even though Alviro is not easy to replace, hopefully we will find the right guy.”
South Africa Test captain Hashim Amla added: “He has been wonderful for us and handles himself exceptionally well both on and off the field.”