Age waits for no man. This is something that Rassie van der Dussen has come to accept.
He may have been a fixture in the Proteas One-Day International team since he made his debut in 2019, but now the 36-year-old is well aware of the fact that there is a host of young talent rising up through the ranks.
Van der Dussen has been a dependable top order batsman for the Proteas for most of his career which has included 18 Tests, 50 T20 Internationals and 69 One-Day Internationals. In that time, Van der Dussen has scored 4678 runs across the three formats.
His best average (48) though is in ODIs, where has six tons and 15 half centuries.
Quality coming through
Still, Van der Dussen has acknowledged that with players like Tristan Stubbs, Tony de Zorzi and Matthew Breetzke coming up, his time in the Proteas team may be limited.
“It's definitely a possibility that it's my last ICC tournament. I'm not saying that with any preconceived ideas that I'll call time on it or management will call time on my career. It's just the reality,” said Van der Dussen.
Van der Dussen went on to explain that he will have discussions with the Proteas management about his future after the Champions Trophy.
"For me I always wanted to get to the Champions Trophy, which is now, and then we'll reassess after that. My national contract is coming up at the end of April.”
South Africa take on England in their final Group B game of the Champions Trophy on Saturday in Karachi. The Proteas will book their spot in the semi-finals with a win against their old foes.