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Johannesburg - Cricket South Africa (CSA) announced on Friday that it has decided to release Johan Botha from his national contract after the ICC World Twenty20 in Sri Lanka in September.
"Johan has been an excellent servant of South African cricket for a lengthy period of time and we will never forget the manner in which he captained the Proteas to success in the absence of Graeme Smith in the away ODI series in Australia in 2009," said CSA's acting chief executive, Jacques Faul, in a statement.
"He has fully committed himself to the Proteas for the next five months which includes the away series in Zimbabwe and England as well as the World Twenty20 and is, at the moment, our first choice spinner in the T20 format.
"However, he has had an offer to captain South Australia over the next two seasons and this will provide valuable opportunities in broadening his experience in a leadership role.
"I must stress that Johan remains fully committed to South African cricket in the long run and is by no means bringing down the curtain on his international career for the Proteas."
Botha expressed his gratitude for CSA for his contract release.
"I remain fully committed to the Proteas in the long term," he said.
"But I would hate to look back on my career at the end and regret that I did not take this opportunity.
"It is purely a cricket decision and there is no financial incentive in accepting it.
"If anything I will be earning less than I would as a contracted player."
Botha captained South Africa in their rain-hit T20 against India at the Wanderers on Friday night.
The Proteas won by 11 runs on the Duckworth-Lewis method.
