There was a poignant moment at the thrilling conclusion of last season’s Betway SA20 final at Newlands. While Sunrisers Eastern Cape’s Tristan Stubbs was going berserk after just taking his team over the line, his partner and former Grey High School mate, Matthew Breetzke, was seen holding a finger to his lips.
Albeit a little embarrassed by his behaviour in the heat of the moment, which Stubbs also gently reminds him of, Breetzke later admitted that it was a message to his detractors who had questioned his ability.
The 27-year-old has never been short of confidence in his own abilities, and now, having taken the step up to international cricket, he wants to shoulder that same responsibility of being the player the Proteas turn to when a match hangs in the balance.
“I’m more of someone who gets the job done kind of thing. Especially in South Africa, you play on such tricky surfaces where you can’t just say, ‘Okay, well, in 50-over cricket, we’re going to go target 380,’ because that thinking is not going to happen,” Breetzke exclusively told IOL Sport ahead of the Australia ODI series, starting on Thursday at Kingsmead.
“Can you handle the pressure of: it’s spinning a bit, it’s nipping a bit, can you absorb a bit? You’ve got to know your work around it. So for me, I just like to get the job done, play the conditions and whatever is needed to win the game. That’s what needs to be done.”
It would be easy to dismiss this as just talk if Breetzke’s numbers did not emphatically support it. The stylish right-hander’s career began in Lahore in February 2025 with a 150 against New Zealand — the highest score by any player on ODI debut in the format’s history.
He followed it with an 83 against Pakistan in the same tri-series, then kept going: four fifty-plus scores to open an international career, a feat no one else in the format’s history had managed. Across his first 14 ODIs, he’s averaging 59.16 at a strike rate of 96.59.
The Proteas middle-order is stacked with worthy contenders.
Breetzke was particularly good in the series against the Aussies last year, highlighted by striking 88 off 78 balls in the second ODI that sealed the rubber for the Proteas in Mackay. He is certainly looking forward to resuming hostilities with the arch-rivals.
“I’m excited. I think it’s epic to have the Aussies come here. They’re a big nation filled with big characters in their team,” he said.
“So they’re going to want to come here and obviously dominate us on our home ground. They’re preparing for the World Cup next year, so they’re going to be sussing out conditions and putting a bit of, I don’t know, mind game stuff in.
“They want to bully us so that come next year, we’ve got a little bit of a mental thing. So there’s loads of stuff that’s going on for me personally, but I just want to get runs.”
Jasper Wiese did not mind stepping back and playing his 50th Test for the Springboks off the bench, and that is exactly what the No 8 will do against the Wallabies on Sunday.Normally, head coach Rassie Erasmus wants his players to achieve their milestone matches in the run-on team. However, the plans the Boks have in place for the clash at Perth’s Optus Stadium (11.45am kick-off SA time) require Wiese […]
