David Wiese confirms international retirement after ENG vs NAM: Seemed like right time

Namibia’s star all-rounder David Wiese has confirmed his international cricket retirement after their loss to England on June 15. Wiese, who started his international career with South Africa, would switch allegiances and start being a part of the Namibian side from 2021. He would go on to become a legend for Namibia with his performances in T20 World Cups.

Wiese was the hero for Namibia earlier on in the T20 World Cup 2024 campaign, when he won them the match against Oman by batting and then bowling in the Super Over. The all-rounder was given an ovation from the Namibia and England players as he made his way off the field on Sunday after a cameo during the match in Antigua. Speaking at the press conference after the game, Wiese would say he doesn’t have much cricket left in him as he aims to play for a few more years.

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Wiese said that the situation was the best for him to end his time with Namibia and felt it was the right time to move on.

“Yeah, yeah, for now. I mean, next year’s T20 World Cup is still two years away, I’m 39 years old now, so , in terms of international cricket, I don’t know if there’s much left in me. Obviously, I still like to play the game for a couple more years, I feel like I’ve still got a lot to contribute and a lot to play. But I just feel like what better place to end a special career for me personally with Namibia. I’ve had a lot of good times with them and to play my last game for them possibly at a World Cup against a world-class team like England, it just seemed like the right time,” said Wiese.

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Took me by surprise

The rain-curtailed game between England and Namibia saw the defending champions score 122 in their 10 overs. Namibia had a good start, but Nikolaas Davin decided to get retired out, meaning that Wiese had to come in.

The all-rounder scored 27 off 12 balls before being dismissed and claimed he was surprised by the call as well. Namibia lost the match by 41 runs.

“Yeah, it took me by surprise also. I wasn’t quite expecting that. I think it was just, , Obviously there was only three or four overs left and traditionally in a T20 game that’s when our time can make an impact. So, I just thought we’d try to simplify it that way and say there’s only a couple of overs left. We knew Ilash still had another over and maybe to the shorter side there so if I could get in there and face a couple of before his over, I could try and take him down for four big over there and to give us a bit of momentum,” said Wiese.

Wiese played 34 T20I matches for Namibia, where he scored more than 500 runs and picked up 35 wickets.