Is it simply too soon to throw teen sensation Lhuan-dre Pretorius into the Proteas’ fire?
Teen sensation Lhuan-dre Pretorius, despite his promising performances and potential, is not yet ready for the Proteas’ main stage, as South Africa seeks to fill the void left by Heinrich Klaasen’s retirement. Picture: Aamir Qureshi/AFP
Image: Aamir Qureshi/AFP
Lhuan-dre Pretorius will certainly have a massive impact for South Africa, but it seems that time has not come yet.
Pretorius, 19, has already played two Tests, three One-Day Internationals, and 12 T20Is for South Africa.
As a swashbuckling, power-hitter, he is tailor-made for T20 cricket, but so far, that’s the format where he’s struggled the most for South Africa so far.
With the T20 World Cup around the corner in February and March, it could have been a great time to test the young southpaw as the Proteas begin a marathon five-match T20 International (T20I) series against hosts India in Cuttack on Tuesday.
Pretorius’s Promising Performances and Future Potential for South Africa
However, the youngster was not included in any of the Test, ODI, or T20 squads for the India series. This despite a promising display in the ODI series against hosts Pakistan last month, as he made scores of 57, 46, and 39.
In fact, Pretorius was part of the SA A squad for the unofficial ODIs against India A. Scores of 21 and 123 again showed his potential when given the chance.
The problem right now for the Proteas is that they are trying to plug the hole left by the retirement of Heinrich Klaasen, who was consistently SA’s most impactful and destructive batsman at their disposal.
It’s actually a case of déjà vu with Pretorius, as we saw with Dewald Brevis a couple of years ago.
In his first eight T20Is for South Africa, the top score by ‘Baby AB’ was 41. That was before a magnificent unbeaten 125 against Australia in Darwin in August.
It signalled his arrival on the international stage, after taking some time to find his feet at the top level of the game.
It shows that Pretorius just needs a bit of time, and the T20 World Cup next year will simply be soon for prodigious talent.
* The views expressed are not necessarily the views of IOL or Independent Media.
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