Sybrand Engelbrecht announces retirement from international cricket after Netherlands' T20 World Cup failure

Netherlands batsman Sybrand Engelbrecht has announced his retirement from international cricket. The 35-year-old made his final appearance in international cricket on Monday (June 17) when the Netherlands locked horns against Sri Lanka in the ongoing ICC T20 World Cup 2024.

The Netherlands were knocked out of the T20 World Cup after losing the game against Sri Lanka by 83 runs. In his last international game, the South Africa-born cricketer scored 11 runs. He, however, managed to garner huge attention on social media for pulling off an outrageous save on the field. The stunning save in his last game was perhaps an apt farewell for a cricketer who first caught everyone's attention only because of his fielding skills.

In the 2008 Under-19 World Cup, Sybrand Engelbrecht had stunned the cricketing world by taking a flying, two-handed catch at backward point while playing for South Africa against Papua New Guinea. His career did not really pan out in a manner that he would have liked and he eventually decided to retire from all forms of cricket in 2016 to focus on his career in financial and project management.

Later in 2021, he moved to the Netherlands and his love for cricket revived once again after he started playing the game recreationally. It did not take Sybrand Engelbrecht long to break into the Netherlands team as he was picked in their squad for the 2023 ODI World Cup.

Sybrand Engelbrecht's career in numbers:

Although Sybrand Engelbrecht represented South Africa in the Under-19 World Cup, he could not play for their senior team in international cricket. He finally made his international debut last year during the ODI World Cup game between the Netherlands and New Zealand. Earlier this year, he made his T20I debut against Nepal.

Overall, he represented the Netherlands in 12 ODIs and as many T20Is. In the 50-over format, he scored 385 ODI runs at an average of 35 with the help of two fifties while in T20Is, he scored 280 T20I runs at an average of 31.11 and a strike rate of 132.70. In the ongoing T20 World Cup, he was the Netherlands' highest run-scorer as he finished his campaign with 98 runs.