Women's ODI World Cup 2025 | Dan van Niekerk takes U-turn on international retirement through social media post

Van Niekerk was once one of the top all-rounders in the Rainbow Nation. The 32-year-old was known for her big knocks and powerful stroke-making and was a handy leg spinner who played her last international in September 2021 against the West Indies Women. Straight after the game her career  was in danger as she was left out of the 2022 ODI  World Cup at home due to an ankle injury, and though she was due to return to the squad in early 2023, she was sacked from captaincy and was left out of the squad after failing the two-kilometer fitness Test during the time where CSA (Cricket South Africa) were strictly monitoring the fitness of their players. As her future was not looking promising, she finally announced he retirement in March 2023

Though Niekerk was retired from international cricket for two years, she was still very much involved in the domestic scene last year, where she represented the Western Province in List A and the Pro20 series. While she maintained an average of 59.66 in the five 50-over games, and was also the fourth-leading run scorer in the T20 tournament. Though these performances are incredible, there were no high expectations of her reversing her retirement decision, which she did through an Instagram post where she also mentioned how much she missed representing her country and apologised to CSA for how she handled her retirement.