19-year-old Dewald Brevis broke a host of records with his astonishing innings of 162 from just 57 deliveries for the Titans against the Knights in Potchefstroom on Monday night. CS Chiwanza takes an in-depth look at the man – and the match.
Dewald Brevis scored his first century for Northerns when he was 11 years old. It was at an Under-11 tournament held at Kearsney College. He scored 140 runs from 82 deliveries as he led the team to victory. The year before that knock, Brevis had scored a sensational half-century against the Griquas in an Under-11 match at a tournament held in Klerksdorp. Brevis scored 70 of 36 to lead the Northerns to victory.
Brevis loved his batting.
A year later, Brevis was playing in an obscure Under-13 tournament held at St. Albans’, the Ethy Mbalathi Cup. During the tournament, he was the top runs scorer. At some point, the organisers had to ask him to retire because no bowler seemed to have an answer to his batting.
Eight years after his maiden century for Northerns, Brevis played as fluent a knock one will ever witness to score his maiden century for the Momentum Multiply Titans.
WHIRLWIND YEAR
Between February and September 2022, Brevis received a geography education, and employment and learned the game of cricket from various legends: Mahela Jayawardene, Rohit Sharma, Kieron Pollard, Dwayne Bravo and Chris Gayle. Brevis received his education in India, England and the West Indies in the IPL, an offseason tour with Mumbai Reliance - the Mumbai Indians' team of upcoming stars - the Sixty tournament and then the CPL. His cricket education was fast-forwarded. It took him seven months to learn what other cricketers take years to learn.
All of that culminated in a record-breaking knock.
When a batter is in good form they pick up the line of the ball early. They glide into position early, sometimes they seem to coax the bowler to bowl to them where they want the ball to be. They don’t plan when to hit sixes, they come of their own accord. An inform batter just lets things flow.
An inform batter inhabits the zone. In the zone, the laws of space and physics are suspended and the extraordinary becomes ordinary. Zoning cricketers feel that they can guide the ball wherever they please. If they can think of a shot, they can execute it. In the zone, the cricket ball looks as huge as a beach ball and deliveries travel slowly towards them.
Brian Lara inhabited the zone when he reached his unbeaten 501 in 1994. Hashim Amla was in the zone when he scored his 311. Rohit Sharma was in the zone when he scored his 261 to register the highest individual score in ODI cricket. Chris Gayle was in the zone when he scored his unbeaten 175 for RCB to become the highest scorer in T20 cricket.
We’re witnessing greatness ??
— SuperSport ?? (@SuperSportTV) October 31, 2022
Dewald Brevis’ talent knows no bounds!
What a catch! ??#CSAT20Challenge pic.twitter.com/pbnLZVror9
CUNNING & DESPARATE
Dewald Brevis was in the zone. The bowlers had no answer, just questions that he had all the answers for. Brevis smashed away everything they threw at him: looping up deliveries, slot balls and fired in back-of-a-length deliveries. When the pacers tried slower balls, he had the power to hit them for six. Aubrey Swanepoel tried to be cunning, but he got smashed away too. The pacers got faster and desperate, and Brevis only upped the tempo. He was in the zone.
It took him 18 balls to reach 50. Brevis’ half-century was the fastest 50 to be scored at JB Marks Oval.
The cricket world realised something special was happening as Brevis closed in on his maiden T20 century. It was going to be faster than most had imagined. After 30 deliveries, Brevis could have scored in singles and he would have still beaten another JB Marks Oval record. Loots Bosman scored a 41-ball century at the venue.
Reinardt Brevis, Dewald's older brother, arrived at the JB Marks Oval just before the younger Brevis made history. Reinardt studies at North West University and had no plans to attend Monday's match as he had to prepare for examinations and the Titans had already secured semifinal qualification. Then he received a call from their father asking him to rush to JB Marks Oval.
The Brevis family has been there when Dewald reached milestones because they have tried to be at every single match that he has played. They were there when he played his last match for his boyhood club, Laudium CC. He scored 188 from 88 balls in that match. They were present when Dewald smashed 140 balls from 119 deliveries for the SA Under-19 team in an encounter against Easterns, the Division 2 side. Shortly afterwards, the Under-19 squad left for the Under-19 World Cup in the Caribbean.
AB De Villiers The Idol ??#ABDevilliers #DewaldBrevis #CSAT20Challenge pic.twitter.com/6p1L51sD6e
— Oh My Cricket (@OhMyCric) October 31, 2022
SOMETHING SPECIAL
With Dewald’s globetrotting, that has been less easy to do. However, where possible, they push to have at least one member of the family present.
Reinardt arrived at the JB Marks Oval with enough time to watch Brevis become the fastest men's batter to score a CSA T20 Challenge century. It took him 35 balls to get there. His century is now the second-fastest century in domestic T20 cricket, just two runs off Wihan Lubbe’s century against Limpopo in 2018. His century catapulted Brevis into the top 10 batters with the fastest T20 centuries.
He is now in joint fifth place alongside David Miller, Rohit Sharma, Martin Guptill, LS van der Westhuizen and Khushdil Shah. Brevis is in good company, just behind Chris Gayle, Rishabh Pant, Wihan Lubbe and Andrew Symonds.
By now the world had congregated around whatever device that was broadcasting the game. There was an air of expectation. Something special was happening. At that moment, every single cricket fan would rather be at the stadium or in front of a screen rather than anywhere else in the world. The cricket world was enveloped by the sort of energy one feels at major sporting events like the Olympics, the Wimbledon final…
There was an air of expectation that Brevis would surpass Quinton de Kock’s highest T20 score of 126 runs.
Dewald Brevis. No need to say more
— AB de Villiers (@ABdeVilliers17) October 31, 2022
JUST ENJOYS BATTING
Some batters chase records. They get motivation from having a target to go for. Dewald Brevis just enjoys batting and had no idea that he was leaving records strewn in his wake. All he was doing as his mentor AB de Villiers taught him to do while at the crease: watch the ball, clear the mind, strong feet. The former Proteas star wrote the mantra down on a piece of paper in 2007, and it served him well throughout his illustrious career. When he started working with Brevis in 2021, that was one of the first things that de Villiers taught the teenager.
Throughout his innings, Brevis watched the ball with a clear mind and always had his feet in a strong position. The result? He effortlessly played picture-perfect shots. He even had a no-look six worthy of a place in the Louvre. Brevis hit the longest sixes of the day and for a moment there was concern he might knock one onto the head of any one of a few soccer players practising in nearby soccer pitches.
Quinton de Kock faced 69 deliveries for his 126 to register the highest T20 score by a South African batter. Dewald Brevis needed 24 fewer balls to surpass de Kock’s record. He reached 128 off 45 deliveries. But, Brevis was not done yet. Seven deliveries later, the teenager overtook Chris Gayle and Hazratullah Zazai to record the fastest 150 runs in T20 cricket. Gayle took 53 deliveries, Zazai faced 58 balls and Brevis needed only 52 balls.
Five deliveries after his 150, Dewald Brevis became the joint-third-placed batter with the highest individual score in men’s T20 cricket. With 162 runs, Brevis matched former Zimbabwe captain Hamilton Masakadza and Hazratullah Zazai behind Aaron Finch (172) and Chris Gayle (175*). In the top 10 of that list, Dewald Brevis has the highest strike rate. Chris Gayle’s strike rate of 265.15 is the closest one to Brevis’ phenomenal 284.21. They lead the rest by a country mile.
Brevis’ knock was magical, it turned out better than anyone had hoped. Brevis’ young career has been the subject of a lot of hype, the teen has lived up to the hype. Not many things or people can rise to the highest hopes people have for them. Brevis is in rarefied air.
Dewald Brevis loves to bat, and on the 31st of October 2022, he shared that love with the world.