Follow UsSome things are just not meant to be. Usain Bolt did not win his last race, MS Dhoni was run out in his final innings in international cricket, just like how he was run out in his first innings in international cricket.
And we know about Sir Donald Bradman as well, who needed just four runs in his last innings to finish with an average of 100, and he got out for a duck.
Although not to the extent of those mentioned above, Sophie Devine did have a similar ending to her ODI career. Captain of the New Zealand women’s cricket team, Devine had announced ahead of her team’s last league stage game against England that she would be retiring from the 50-over format.
In her last outing, Devine scored 23 off 35 balls and took just one wicket, finishing a career of 159 matches in which she amassed 4279 runs and took 111 wickets. In the format, she scored nine centuries and 18 fifties as well.
Speaking after the end of the match against England, which saw the White Ferns lose by eight wickets, Devine said, “I feel so blessed to have played this incredible game for so many years, but, you know, I'm not fully done just yet, so I'm still annoying people around the grounds I'm sure.
“It was just about enjoying today – going back to the roots of why I played the game 19 years ago: to play alongside my mates. The result didn’t go our way, but for me, honestly, it was never about the result. It was about finishing here with my mates,” she added.
This was the worst ever campaign for New Zealand in their World Cup history as they finished with a lone win against Bangladesh and lost four matches with two games getting washed away.
It was in the 1978 World Cup, which had only four teams, that New Zealand finished with just one win.