Netherlands' Sybrand Engelbrecht announces international retirement after group stage exit at ICC T20 World Cup 2024

Sybrand Engelbrecht played in all four of Netherlands’ matches at the T20 World Cup 2024.

Hours after the Netherlands‘ campaign in the ICC T20 World Cup 2024 came to an end, Sybrand Engelbrecht announced his retirement from all forms of international cricket.

Born in Johannesburg, Engelbrecht made his debut for the Netherlands in 2023 and featured in 12 ODIs and as many T20Is.

He bowed out of the international stage with a spectacular six-save in the game against Sri Lanka at the Daren Sammy National Cricket Stadium, Gros Islet, St Lucia. Engelbrecht made a jaw-dropping save at the deep mid-wicket boundary that left everyone with their mouths open. The ICC’s video of Engelbrecht’s save crossed a million views soon after the match had ended.

Sybrand Engelbrecht had retired from cricket in 2016 to make a career in financial and project management

In South Africa, he went to the same school Faf du Plessis and AB de Villiers went to.

Sybrand Engelbrecht had played for South Africa in the 2008 Under-19 World Cup but he couldn’t break through in the senior side. He played for the Cape Cobras until 2016 while he also completed a degree in finance and started working for a business called Fairtree and took retirement from all cricket. He then did a post-graduation in project management.

However, life always wanted to bring Engelbrecht back to cricket. His company expanded its branches in Europe and Engelbrecht was posted in the Netherlands, where he began playing recreational cricket on the weekends.

He played for played for Voorburg Cricket Club, which became a top-tier team in the Netherlands. The KNCB (Netherlands Cricket Board) recognised Engelbrecht as a serious talent and integrated him into their setup.

In 2023, he made his ODI debut and was part of the World Cup 2023 in India, where the Netherlands recorded a famous win over South Africa.

He ends his career with 385 ODI runs at an average of 35 and 280 T20I runs at 31 and a strike rate of 132. In the T20 World Cup 2024, Engelbrecht was his side’s top-scorer, though with only 98 runs as conditions in this tournament have proven to be tough for batters.

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