South African wonderkid Lhuan-dre Pretorius has continued his stunning start to life as a professional cricketer, notching his second first-class century in just his second innings in the format.
He became the 23rd player in history to bring up hundreds in each of their first two innings in first-class cricket and the third South African to achieve the feat after Raymond Watson-Smith in the 1969/70 season and Sedick Conrad across the two seasons of 1971/72 and 1972/73. Only one batter, West Indies' Joe Solomon, has extended the streak to three in three, doing so between 1956 and 1958.
Pretorius top-scored from No.5 with 103 of the Titans total of 225 against Western Province. Only one other batter passed 25 in a line-up that included South Africa internationals Neil Brand, Keegan Petersen, Dewald Brevis and Andile Phehlukwayo.
Pretorius’ form has continued way beyond his rookie SA20 campaign where he was the standout young batter in the competition, opening the batting alongside Joe Root for the Paarl Royals. His debut season in the franchise competition even led to England Test captain Ben Stokes tweeting about the “incredibly talented” young left-hander from Potchefstroom after his knock of 97 off 51 in his side’s opening game of the tournament.
Paarl Royals were knocked out in the playoffs but that didn’t stop Pretorius, who has continued to rack up runs across formats. In his first first-class innings for the Titans he smashed 120 off 96, also against Western Province, off an attack that included Dane Paterson and George Linde. Pretorius would add another century, this time in List A cricket, a week later. He struck a 69-ball 107 that included hitting Test spinner Senuran Muthusamy for five sixes in an over.
The 18-year-old was also his side’s highest run-scorer in the 2024 Under-19 World Cup held at home in South Africa, finishing up with 287 runs at an average of 57.40 and a strike rate of 94.09 as South Africa reached the semi-finals of the tournament before losing out to eventual runners-up India.
The teenager’s rise in professional cricket has earned him a contract with Hampshire to play the entirety of the T20 Blast in the English summer.
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