SA keeper Trisha retires from cricket due to recurring back injury

South Africa’s veteran wicketkeeper-batter Trisha Chetty announced that she has retired from all forms of cricket due to a recurring back injury, bringing an end to a 21-year career in domestic and international cricket. “I can still remember the incredible feeling I had back in 2007 as I walked over the boundary rope, dressed in green and gold for the first time. For the past 16 years, it has been a privilege to represent my country and play for the Proteas, and that feeling has never gone away – each time I pulled on my South African kit I felt honoured to be doing so.” “But now, due to a recurring back injury for the past five years, the time has come for me to hang up my boots and let the gloves catch dust. I have tried everything to keep playing and have pushed as hard as I can but my body is signalling that it has no more to give and it is time to retire from all forms of cricket,” said Trisha in a statement issued on Friday. Breaking into the South African national set-up in January 2007 at 18, Trisha signs off with 138 caps in ODIs, apart from 82 T20Is and two Test caps. As a wicketkeeper, Trisha secured 184 dismissals in the ODIs, 46 scalps more than her nearest competitor, taking 133 catches and a world record-equalling 51 stumpings (tied with England’s Sarah Taylor and Anju Jain from India). In T20Is, she made 70 dismissals (42 catches and 28 stumpings) after making her debut in August 2007. With the bat, the right-handed Trisha amassed 2703 ODI runs, including 16 half-centuries and a top score of 95 against Ireland in 2016. In the T20Is, she scored 1,117 runs at a strike rate of 88.09, including five fifties.