Dewald Brevis had a front-row seat when Lhuan-dre Pretorius rewrote the global T20 record books last Friday night in Bloemfontein.
The two Titans shared the crease for part of Pretorius’ 188 not out off 79 balls with the left-hander eclipsing Chris Gayle’s world best of 175 not out. In the process, Pretorius also passed the South African mark that had previously belonged to Brevis — 162 off 57 balls, also for the Titans against the Knights, in 2022.
Instead of being envious of his teammate, Brevis viewed it as motivation to push even harder, citing the fact that there is a “healthy competition” between two of South Africa’s brightest young batting talents.
“For Lhuan-dre, what he’s done, that would, for him, be very special, but obviously for all of us, we’re proud of him,” Brevis exclusively told IOL Sport, courtesy of Red Bull.
“It was great to witness, to be there and to see him bat. He’s a special talent, and I wish him only the best for his future and whatever lies ahead.
“I think records are meant to be broken, and it obviously pushes, when it comes to myself, it would push me to obviously go for that as well.
“And whenever that happens, it would be amazing. And I think for him as well, he would want to even raise the [bar] higher. So, yeah, it’s a healthy competition.”
Brevis also stressed that he is working hard on his all-round game to be successful across formats.
“The journey is amazing. There’s obviously lots of highs, lots of lows. And yeah, I’m enjoying every moment of it,” he said.
“I think people only really see the outcome; it is your inner circle, the people close to you, the people who help you, who really see the sacrifices you put in, the tough times you go through. And it’s a lot of that. It’s a lot of hard work.
“It’s basically 99% the stuff behind the scenes that no one really knows. And you yourself even know more than the people almost close to you. So, yeah, it’s amazing.
“Obviously, I trust in God, like He’s planned for my journey. And when it comes to cricket, and yeah, I’ve got full faith in that. But it also comes with hard work.
“I do spend lots of time in Stellenbosch working with my coach, Deon Botes. He’s down at Paul Roos after all those years at Affies. And I work with Sheryl Calder (eye specialist), so those are people that really are in my inner circle and they helped me to become even better and better as time goes on.”
