In a shocker, Deandra Dottin, one of the star all-rounders of West Indies women’s cricket, on August 1 announced her retirement. Dottin stated that she was unable to "adhere to the team culture and environment” any longer. The 31-year-old took to Twitter to announce her retirement from international cricket.
The Barbadian cricketer was a former field and track athlete before she made the switch to cricket. Dottin made her debut for the Windies in June 2008. Dottin is known to be a hard-hitting batter, who played lower down the order.
Dottin was the first woman to score a century in a Women's Twenty20 International (WT20I) in 2010. Some of her other achievements include becoming the first to hit 100 sixes in WT20Is, being the third to play in 100 WT20I matches, and being recognised as the Women's ODI and Women's T20I Player of the Year by Cricket West Indie in 2019.
Dottin was a prolific scorer, having made 3,727 runs in 143 matches along with three centuries and 22 half-centuries. She also scored a total of 2,681 runs in 124 WT20Is, with two centuries and 12 half-centuries. As an all-rounder, she has also taken 72 wickets with an average economy of 27.19 in WODIs, and 61 wickets with a bowling average of 18.44 in WT20Is.
Dottin showed her skills earlier in the year in the ICC Women's Cricket World Cup. Her exceptional performance against hosts New Zealand saw her bowl an amazing over that ended the game. Her catch against England in the second match was one of the best seen in the whole tournament as well.
Though Dottin has announced her retirement from international cricket, she is expected to play for her national Barbadian team in certain tournaments.
