Ashwell calls it quits
ASHWELL Prince has called time on his career and will play his final cricket match for the Chevrolet Warriors against the Cape Cobras in Cape Town, starting tomorrow.
Gelvandale-born Prince, who turns 37 in May, will walk out at Newlands tomorrow wearing the green cap of the Warriors for the final time, having spent two decades playing the game.
The left-handed batsman, who lives in Cape Town but still plays for the Warriors, said the decision was made easy by the fact that his eldest son would be going to "big" school next year.
"At this stage of one's life, family comes first.
"My eldest son is in Grade R at the moment and next year in Grade 1. I always planned to retire when they started going to school proper.
"It's easier now for my family to join me at Lancashire in England, but when he starts school proper I don't want there to be any disruptions."
Prince will still honour his winter contract with English county side Lancashire before returning to settle in South Africa later this year, and perhaps look at opening a soccer academy in Port Elizabeth's northern areas.
"Unfortunately the seasons are overlapping, with Lancashire starting on April 6. I'll be leaving on April 1, so I will be missing the last Warriors game of the season," Prince said yesterday.
"But it has actually turned out nicely with us playing against the team that I represented for quite a while, as well [as playing] in Cape Town this weekend.
"I'm going to play one more season at Lancashire and then I'm done. There'll be no club cricket. After about 250 first- class games I've seen enough of cricket," he said with a smile.
During his 20-year career he played for South Africa, an Africa XI, Eastern Province, Lancashire, Mumbai Indians, Nottinghamshire, Warriors, the Cobras and Western Province.
He represented South Africa in 66 tests scoring 3665 runs at an average of 41.64. He made 11 hundreds with a top score of 162 not out. He also played in 52 one- day internationals.
Prince made his first-class debut in 1995 and almost 20 years later has accumulated 15801 runs at 43.29 per innings. He notched up 37 hundreds and 82 fifties with a highest of 254 – for the Warriors against the Titans.
Prince said South Africa being ranked No1 in test cricket was a highlight during his time. "In my career, I've always put the team first. So from a team perspective, although it was brief at the time, it was nice to be number one in the world. That was a definite highlight."
He listed hundreds he scored away to England and both home and away to Australia as personal highs.
"I always seemed to produce my best when either the team or myself was under pressure to keep my spot in the team.
"I remember my first tour to Australia. Before the third test in Sydney there was talk about leaving me out so I was under pressure. We batted first and we were about 60 or 80 for three and I came out and scored a hundred at the SCG. Jacques Kallis and myself had a big partnership.
"At Lord's as well we were in big trouble in the first innings of the first test, and that was after I had had a poor tour of India. And to be able to get a hundred in the first test at Lord's and write your name on the honours board at Lord's is special.
"The other one that stands out was getting 150 at Newlands as an opening batsman against Australia," Prince said. - Alvin Reeves
