South African stalwart Dane van Niekerk will miss the upcoming T20 women's World Cup after failing a 2km time trial.
Van Niekerk has captained her country in all three formats of the game but came in 18 seconds over the nine-and-a-half minute limit imposed by Cricket South Africa.
The 29-year old said she was "absolutely broken" by the decision.
Van Niekerk has not played international cricket since September 2021 and missed last year's ODI World Cup due to a broken ankle.
"Dane was given an extensive opportunity to meet the minimum criteria for the fitness benchmark," selector Clinton du Preez said.
"Many other players have gone down this route, everyone is quite familiar with the situation and what is required. In December, we set it out clearly with where she needs to be.
"Dane will always be missed on the cricket field. We have reminded her of that.
"We also appreciate the effort she tried to put into meeting the fitness level."
Sune Luus will captain the side in van Niekerk's absence.
"Dane was given an extensive opportunity to meet the minimum criteria, or the fitness benchmark for eligibility into the World Cup," du Preez said.
"She recently did another fitness test and unfortunately did not meet the minimum criteria, and therefore she's missed out.
"It's purely based on the not meeting of the fitness criteria that she's missed out."
Before her recent injury troubles, van Niekerk was a mainstay of South Africa cricket for over a decade.
She is the only South African women's cricketer to take more than 50 wickets and score more than 1,500 runs in T20 internationals.
Van Niekerk has 194 caps for her country across all international formats.
South Africa will host the tournament and play its first match against Sri Lanka in Cape Town on February 10.
