Former South Africa batsman Ashwell Prince has revealed that batsman J P Duminy was considering retirement from Test cricket when he was dropped from the second Test of the four-match series against England in January this year.
Prince, who was the then national selector of Australia, revealed that he was the one who informed Duminy about his axing as the convener of selectors was not present at that moment.
"When he was dropped in January, he was considering retiring from Test cricket. He had the conversation with me because the convener of selectors was not at the Cape Town Test, so I had to go and take him the news that he won't be playing," Prince was quoted, as saying by ESPNcricinfo.
The 39-year-old said that he tried to convince Duminy how important Test cricket is for a player and also asked him to reconsider his plans to retire.
"At that time, he was at a real low point and he was being honest and giving his feelings. As a selector, and with him being an important player to South African cricket, you try and convince him to think about it. I'm sure when he thinks back about that conversation this afternoon or this evening, he will know how he was feeling then and with the feeling he is having now, he will be happy that he carried on," he added.
Duminy had gone 12 innings without a century and had only scored fifty once before he was dropped for the New Year's Test. And Prince admitted that it was the middle-order batsman's poor form that cost him place in the squad.
"It's difficult to pinpoint exactly what it was, but he was out of form. I was talking to him as a friend, rather than a selector. I was making him understand how important Test cricket is for a player. You can play hundreds of ODIs and T20 and make millions but when you are done playing, you always think about what you did in the Test match arena," he said.
While having a conversation with Duminy following his axing, Prince said that the former told him that he needed "a bit of a break" before he eventually decided to play in a franchise first-class match.
"I don't know what changed from him wanting a break and then playing in that match, but he got 250 straight away and I think the next Test he was back in," insisted Prince.
Following Duminy's brilliant performance in the first-class match, he was recalled into the squad in place of Faf du Plessis. However, he did not have much success in the match scoring just 19 and 29 runs in the two innings respectively against England at SuperSport Park.
Recently, Duminy ended a run of patchy form by scoring 141 runs besides stitching a magnificent 250-run stand with Dean Elgar in the second innings to give South Africa a 388-run plus lead over Australia in the ongoing opening Test in Perth.
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