Lhuan-dre Pretorius Is South Africa’s Next Big Thing

South African cricket has produced plenty of exciting young batters over the years, but it is becoming increasingly difficult to describe Lhuan-dre Pretorius as merely a prospect.

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The 20-year-old is already doing things nobody else has done.

Pretorius produced a staggering 188 not out from just 79 balls for the Titans against the Knights in Bloemfontein on Friday night, breaking Chris Gayle’s long-standing record for the highest individual score in T20 cricket.

It was another extraordinary entry on a CV that already includes a Test century, a T20 international hundred and an SA20 Batter of the Season award.

And he’s only 20.

South Africa may not simply have another talented youngster on their hands. In Pretorius, they could have one of the country’s next great international batters.

Pretorius Breaks The Unbreakable Record

For more than 13 years, Gayle’s unbeaten 175 for Royal Challengers Bengaluru against Pune Warriors India in the 2013 IPL stood as one of T20 cricket’s most iconic records.

Pretorius has now gone past it.

Opening the batting for the Titans against the Knights at Mangaung Oval, the left-hander smashed 188 not out from 79 deliveries, including 15 fours and 13 sixes.

He reached his half-century from only 24 balls.

Then things became ridiculous.

Pretorius required just another 16 deliveries to convert 50 into 100, bringing up his century from 40 balls. His 150 arrived from 58 deliveries before he eventually finished 12 runs short of what would have been the first double-century in T20 cricket.

His dominance was perhaps best illustrated by the Titans’ opening partnership.

Pretorius and Sinethemba Qeshile put on 112 for the first wicket. Qeshile contributed just 14 from 10 balls.

Pretorius scored 93 of the other 98 runs.

The Titans eventually posted a mammoth 267/3, before dismissing the Knights for 143 to seal a 124-run victory.

The previous highest T20 score by a South African belonged to Pretorius’ Titans teammate Dewald Brevis, who smashed 162 against, coincidentally, the Knights in 2022.

Pretorius didn’t just break a South African record.

He went past the Universe Boss himself.

This Wasn’t A Freak Innings

If Friday night’s performance had come completely out of nowhere, it would still have been extraordinary.

But that’s what makes Pretorius’ record-breaking innings so exciting.

It didn’t.

His previous innings before returning to domestic cricket was a century for South Africa.

Pretorius struck 101 from 53 balls against Namibia in September, hammering eight sixes and five fours as the Proteas amassed 228/4. It was his maiden T20I century and followed a brilliant 94 against Zimbabwe earlier in the same tri-series.

So across three of his recent significant T20 innings, Pretorius has produced:

94 vs Zimbabwe
101 vs Namibia
188 vs Knights*

Those aren’t the numbers of a player occasionally showing flashes of potential.

They’re the numbers of a young batter beginning to understand just how destructive he can be.