Lizelle Lee: South Africa batter quits internationals with awards and regrets

After calling time on her international career, South Africa batter Lizelle Lee still has some regrets despite racking up some prestigious personal awards.

The 30-year-old opener was crowned the best women's one-day international cricketer for 2021 in January, before being then named the leading women's cricketer in the world in April.

However, having stepped back from the Proteas squad ahead of the ongoing ODI series against England, her thoughts are often drawn back to the World Cup semi-final defeat against the same opposition in March.

Lee was part of the South Africa team that was at the wrong end of a 137-run pasting in New Zealand, in a repeat of the outcome at the same stage of the tournament in 2017.

This year's World Cup exit, on her 100th ODI appearance, still rankles, more so since the Proteas emerged victorious against England in the group stages.

"The award is something that's an extra. That's literally the last thing we think about when playing," she told BBC Sport Africa.

"Having a repeat of the 2017 World Cup semi-final result wasn't great, but we have to learn from it and pull ourselves together. Hopefully we can change it around in the next four years."

The hard-hitting opener was recognized for a stellar 2021 for the Proteas, smashing 632 runs in 11 ODI innings at an incredible average of 90.28.

During the course of her purple patch, Lee registered her career-best international score of 132 not out in the third ODI of the series against India last March.

The Leading Woman Cricketer in the World award, meanwhile, came from Wisden, commonly regarded as the 'Bible of Cricket'.

Yet despite the 158-year-old annual publication's place in the sport's folklore, she is candid enough to admit she had never heard of it before.

"I never knew about Wisden - it was only after I got the award that I found out about the publication and its place in cricketing history," she said.

"Of course, I feel extremely honoured to have received the award,"

This article originally appeared on BBC Sport

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