Teenage prodigy Lhuan-dre Pretorius was dismissed for a golden duck on T20I debut, falling to Zimbabwe's Richard Ngarava off the first legal ball of the innings at Harare.
Lhuan-dre Pretorius makes T20I debut
Pretorius, who has taken the cricket world by storm with his exploits across formats, made his international debut in the Test series against Zimbabwe and immediately showed what the hype was about. He starred with 153 in his very first innings, before making 78 in the second Test, as South Africa wrapped up the series 2-0.
The 19-year-old burst onto the scene during a sensational maiden season in the SA20 earlier this year, where he made 397 runs at a strike rate of 166.80. His aggressive batting style impressed none other than England Test skipper Ben Stokes, who called him an “incredibly talented player” on social media.
South Africa’s leading run-scorer in the 2023 Under-19 World Cup, he was also the sixth-highest run-scorer in the CSA T20 Knockout Challenge in the 2023-24 season. He finally made his T20I debut on Monday (July 14), after playing 38 T20s, scoring 1,021 runs with a strike rate of 146.48.
However, his maiden T20I outing did not go as expected. Playing against Zimbabwe in the tri-series also featuring New Zealand, South Africa, South Africa needed 142 for a win. They lost a wicket on the very first ball, as Ngarava banged it short outside off. The batter looked to slap it away but showed a lack of footwork, miscuing it straight back to the bowler, who took a simple catch.
The Proteas won the match by five wickets, with another youngster impressing: Dewald Brevis, playing his first T20I since September 2023, struck 41 in 17, including five sixes.
South Africa’s next game in the series is on July 16 against New Zealand.
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