South African wicketkeeper-batter Heinrich Klaasen, who recently announced his retirement from international cricket earlier last month, has called for the scrapping of bilateral ODI series between nations in a bid to declutter an already busy cricket calendar.
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Especially with the advent of multiple global T20 leagues, cricketers barely get an off-season and the 33-year-old Proteas called for some changes by the apex cricket council (ICC) in the 50-over format that can benefit the players.
Echoing on the same lines, Klaasen said to Cricbuzz, “I think the only change that I will make is probably take [bilateral] one-day cricket away from international cricket. Make it more Test matches for teams that don’t play a lot of Test matches. Play more T20 cricket, because that’s what the people want to see. You can keep your one-day World Cups, and just maybe a month before the one-day World Cup starts, you play five games for every team, just to get used to that format.”
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For the unversed, Klaasen announced his white-ball retirement in June, after having already hung up his boots in the longest format last year in a bid to focus on limited-overs cricket for both country and franchise.
His decision regarding ODIs and T20Is came after contract negotiations with Cricket South Africa (CSA) did not go as he had hoped for although he was in the plans for the 2026 T20 World Cup and the 2027 ODI World Cup.
Nevertheless, the talented right-hander had enjoyed an illustrious international career and finished as one of South Africa’s most powerful white-ball players. While he played just four Tests between 2019-2023, his ODI career spanned 60 matches where he amassed over 2,000 runs with an impressive average of nearly 44. Among his standout performances was a breathtaking knock of 174 against Australia in 2023, the second-highest score ever recorded by a No. 5 batter in ODI history.
In T20Is, he featured in 58 games, maintaining a remarkable strike rate of 141.84. He remained a vital part of South Africa’s white-ball squads until his last international appearance during the Champions Trophy 2025 semifinal against New Zealand.
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