Faf du Plessis is focusing on bringing World Cup T20 glory to South Africa after announcing his retirement from Test cricket yesterday.
Du Plessis stepped down from the five-day captaincy last year after 69 appearances and scoring 4 163 runs in the format – including 21 fifties and 10 hundreds.
His debut in 2012 saw him score a 78 and a unbeaten fourth-innings 110 against Australia and he went on to lead SA to home and away series wins over the old enemy.
His top score of 199 came in last year’s Boxing Day Test against Sri Lanka.
He says of his Test career: “The time has come for me to retire from Test cricket.
“If someone had told me 15 years ago that I would play 69 Test matches for South Africa and captain the side, I wouldn’t have believed them.”
Looking ahead, the 36-year-old batsman says: “The next two years are ICC T20 World Cup years.
“Because of this, my focus is shifting to this format and I want to play as much of it as possible around the world so that I can be the best player I can possibly be.
“I strongly believe that I have a lot to offer to the Proteas in this format. This does not mean that ODI cricket is no longer in the plans, I’m just making T20 cricket the priority in the short term.”