
GQEBERHA: Every now and then, a young athlete grabs the eyeballs of an unsuspecting crowd like a supernova. In T20s, just because of the way the format works, it's almost instantaneous. Clips are uploaded and regurgitated across various platforms. Bonafide superstars — and influencers — are compelled to put out their two pence. Fans of the game rush to find the remote control thanks to FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out).
All of this happened at Boland Park on the afternoon of January 11, three days into SA20s third edition. Batting first, Sunrisers Eastern Cape had made a perfectly acceptable 175/5. What followed over the next one hour and change was some of the most audacious strokeplay you could imagine from an 18-year-old. It's why Paarl Royals' Lhuan-dre Pretorius is already on his way to becoming one of the format's most in-demand batters. That he's a left-hander only adds value to his stock as that particular batting type at the top-of-the-order is a point of difference.
That day, Eastern Cape had Marco Jansen, Richard Gleeson, Ottneil Baartmen, Simon Harmer as well as national team captain, Aiden Markram. Pretorius, who was making his SA20 debut that Saturday, reduced that established bowling line-up to raffle winners, Sunday league cricketers who had snuck in via the backdoor.
Across 52 minutes and 51 balls, Pretorius, already built like a tank, hit 10 fours and six sixes. By the time the hitting exhibition was over, the cricket world had anointed the teen as the next superstar. "One of the many things," Ben Stokes had posted on Twitter that day, "franchise cricket has done is give young/inexperienced but incredibly talented players opportunities on the biggest stage against the best in the world and show off how good they are. Lhuan-dre Pretorius is doing that right now."
Joe Root — his opening partner — had the best seat in the house during that particular innings (the pair put on 132 in 13 overs). A couple of days later, Root called Pretorius a 'serious talent'.
How serious? Sample this. This year's SA20 has been a tournament where the bowlers have become apex predators but Pretorius has emerged as one of the honourable exceptions. Out of the 13 players to have scored 200 or more, Pretorius is one among two to have a strike rate of over 150 (169.1). He's also the leading boundary-hitter (37) and is joint-third for sixes (14).
Since his show on opening night, he has had a couple of other innings as well (83 against MI Cape Town and 43 vs. Super Giants). The next challenge for the young southpaw is to announce himself in a big game, like the one against MI Cape Town at the iconic St. George's Park on Tuesday. It's fair to say that the opener hasn't excelled on the road (26, 0, 25, 19 and 3 in the five away matches so far) but his skipper, David Miller, talked him up on the eve of the match.
"Sensational talent, firstly," he said during the pre-match press conference. "The way he thinks about the game at a young age... he has got a great thinking brain. He adapts really well, what impresses me the most is the amount of time he has on the ball. He has got a lot of time and picks up length really early against the quicker bowlers. He kind of plays all around, has the lap shot and can play the slog sweep against the spinners. I'm really looking forward to seeing what he achieves."
On a ground that has been difficult for run-scoring in the 2025 edition, Pretorius, in the very short term, still taking baby steps in his career, can take a giant leap forward with a quick-fire start.