Makhaya Ntini May Quit International Cricket

Durban: The first black cricketer to play for South Africa, pacer Makhaya Ntini is planning to bid adieu to his international career after being dropped for the third Test against England.

Ntini has reportedly signed an agreement with English county side Middlesex that will keep him from being available for national duty.

Ntini celebrated his 100th Test in the second Test against England last month but was left out of the team for the third Test due to his consistently declining performance in the past two years.

Although Cricket South Africa (CSA) remained tight-lipped, sources close to Ntini indicated that the 32-year-old former herdsman had signed a Kolpak contract with Middlesex.

Such a contract requires players to undertake that they would not be available for their national team. Ntini has a contract with CSA until April.

"CSA has not heard anything yet from Ntini," Proteas spokesman Michael Owen-Smith told the Afrikaans daily 'Beeld'.

"The selectors will decide if he is offered a contract again and he can then decline the contract," he said.

Ntini, who became a celebrity after being snapped up out of obscurity and poverty as a rural herdsman, was the first black African player in the national side after decades of the team being exclusively white in the apartheid era.

Ntini has taken 391 wickets from 101 Tests, while snapping up 266 in 173 ODIs.

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