Hashim Amla, the South African opener who has joined MI Cape Town as a batting coach for SA20, has announced his retirement from all forms of cricket.
The South African batting legend, 39, has informed Surrey Country Club that he will not be playing for them in the County Championship in 2023. Amla was instrumental in Surrey winning the Championship in 2022, the final season of his contract with the county club.
In his two-decade career, Amla has scored 34,104 runs across all formats, including 9,282 in 124 Tests, the second most for his country behind Jacques Kallis. This included 28 hundreds and a best of 311 not out against England at The Oval in 2012, which also marked South Africa's first Test triple-century.
Amla was also very successful in white-ball cricket, scoring 8113 runs in 181 ODIs, including 27 hundreds, and 1,277 runs in 44 T20Is.
He began his coaching career a few months ago, joining MI Cape Town as a batting coach in the ongoing SA20.
Amla retired from international cricket after South Africa's campaign in the 2019 ODI World Cup ended. He had retired from Test cricket earlier that year, following a match against Sri Lanka at Gqeberha in February, capping a two-decade career that spanned from 200 to 2019.
On Wednesday, he officially informed Surrey that he would not be returning to help them defend their 2022 title. He returned to Surrey in 2019, after previously representing the county as an overseas player in 2013 and 2014. He previously worked for Derbyshire, Hampshire, Nottinghamshire, and Essex. He also played for Kings XI Punjab in the Indian Premier League and Kwa-Zulu Natal, Dolphins, and Cape Cobras in South Africa's domestic leagues.