Lhuan-dre Pretorius has broken the world record for the highest individual score in T20 cricket.
The 20-year-old hit an unbeaten 188 off 79 balls for the Titans against the Knights in Bloemfontein on Friday night, surpassing West Indian legend Chris Gayle’s the 175 not out struck for Royal Challengers Bangalore against Pune Warriors in 2013.
Pretorius smashed 15 fours and 13 sixes, took the Titans to 267/3.
The powerful left-hander also beat his Titans teammate Dewald Brevis’s 162 off 57 balls against the Knights in 2022, the previous South African record.
The Titans chose to bat and set off at a pace the Knights never matched. Sinethemba Qeshile and Pretorius put on 112 for the first wicket in 7.4 overs, until Qeshile (14 off 10) was stumped by Gihahn Cloete off Dane Piedt.
Brevis was caught by Haasbroek off Boast for 7 and Leus du Plooy, also caught by Haasbroek, fell to Emmanuel Motswiri for 17, which left the Titans on 199 for 3 after 14.6 overs.
By then Pretorius was well on his way. He hit 15 fours and 13 sixes, so 138 of his 188 runs came in boundaries, and he finished with a strike rate of 237.97.
In the last five overs the Titans added 68 without losing a wicket, with captain Donovan Ferreira finishing on 29 not out off 11 balls, which included two sixes.
Every Knights bowler went for at least 11 an over. Malusi Siboto took none for 57 in his four overs, Motswiri 1/47 from three, Piedt 1/49 from four and Ross Boast 1/46 from four. Nealan van Heerden (0/29), Mbongiseni Mhlanga (0/27) and Jacques Snyman (0/11) shared three overs.
His previous best in T20 cricket was 102 not out. He scored it earlier this year, in the Major League Cricket. Last month he became the youngest Full Member player to score a T20I century, with 101 off 53 balls against Namibia and previously topped the run-scoring charts in his maiden Betway SA20 season.
