Having missed his maiden T20I hundred by just six runs a couple of earlier, Lhuan-dre Pretorius made sure he doesn’t miss the chance on Friday as the South African left-hander notched up his first-ever century in the shortest format, against Namibia in the final round-robin game of the Tri-nation T20I series at the Namibia Cricket Ground in Windhoek.
Starting from where he left in the previous game against Zimbabwe, Pretorius started on a slower side initially as his opening partner Connor Esterhuizen entertained the crowd on a bright sunny day. It was actually Esterhuizen’s 24 runs in the ninth over off Jack Brassell, that brought up South Africa’s 100 runs.
Pretorius actually started to change gears post powerplay and brought up his fifty in the 11th over in just 28 deliveries. Although Esterhuizen missed his hundred by just 12 runs in the next over, Pretorius went with his business, before slowing down a bit in the middle.
With 11 runs needed in the final over to reach his maiden T20I hundred, Pretorius struck two sixes off Gerhard Erasmus in the first three balls to hold his hands aloft in celebration. He was finally dismissed in the next ball as an Erasmus yorker got the better of him. He was dismissed for 101 off just 53 deliveries, which included five fours and eight sixes.
All you need to know about Lhuan-dre Pretorius
Like every other teen, Pretorius journey with cricket started at a very young age. His father Abe Pretorius took him to the Senwes Park – home of the North West Dragons – regularly for practice and also set up a training net at their home Potchefstroom.
As a result, Pretorius had the proviledge of spending time with the national team players like Bjorn Fortuin and Rassie van der Dussen from a very young age. Growing up, Pretorius went to the prestigious St Stithians College, which produced Kagiso Rabada, Grant Elliot and Kwena Maphaka.