Lhuan-dre Pretorius, playing for his country, has featured in 22 matches across various formats. During this period, he managed only one international century, which was impressive—153 runs in his debut Test match last year.
However, for a young player who has accumulated 11 centuries in two years on the professional circuit and is accustomed to scoring many runs almost every second weekend at the school level, the concept of three-digit scores is familiar.
The question was how he felt at the Namibia Cricket Ground in Windhoek on Tuesday when he failed to reach his first century in a T20I, losing by just one strong shot?
After Proteas defeated their neighbors from Zimbabwe by 43 runs, Pretorius noted: 'It's fine. I was a little disappointed because we were aiming for 200 after 14 overs. I knew that if we reached 200, I would achieve that milestone.' He added that 'centuries in T20 are very rare, and international centuries in T20 are even rarer, but I wasn't too worried about it. I believe milestones come and go.'
He also emphasized: 'This is a team sport; if I were to worry about my achievements, I might as well play tennis or golf.'
Despite Proteas being on track for 200 runs, they ultimately only managed 185/7, which was more dependent on Pretorius' teammates than on his own dismissal at 94 runs with an over remaining.
Proteas confidently stood at 154/1 with less than five overs left before Dewald Brevis' attempt to score his third consecutive half-century in a T20I was interrupted. This was followed by a series of hitters trying to use the long bat to send the ball over the boundary instead of maintaining the initiative at the crease.
Pretorius faced only 12 deliveries between the 16th and 19th overs, which not only undermined Proteas' momentum but also that of the aggressive left-hander himself.
When asked about insufficient support, he replied: 'I wouldn't say that. Yes, we didn't have too many wickets down before the last six overs. But they did well making the ball very soft in the middle of the game. And it was really difficult... Considering the wind, they bowled well to the boundary. And they maximized the wind. They made the ball very soft, so it was hard to move away.'
He continued: 'I was the main batter, and that's how T20 cricket works. As one of the top five, one player can raise their hand and win the game. Brevis did it in the first two. Today was my day. Hopefully, someone else will have a day in the next game. Then you need to maximize, because T20 cricket is a high-risk, low-margin game.'
Pretorius will get another chance to score a triple-digit total when Proteas faces the hosts of Namibia in their final group match on Friday.