Pretorius powers Royals with a blazing knock

Lhuan-dre Pretorius slammed a magnificent unbeaten 98 in 65 balls to lead Paarl Royals to a challenging 181 for three wickets in their SA20 Cape derby against MI Cape Town at a hot Boland Park in Paarl on Friday.

Pretorius just missed his first SA20 ton, taking 15 off Kagiso Rabada’s final over, but failing to score off the final ball wide outside his off-stump. The beefy 19-year-old left-hander struck 10 fours and two sixes in his innings that was conspicuous for his mastery of picking length and his strong wrists.

Pretorius and fellow opener Asa Tribe set up the innings with a century partnership in 64 balls after the home team won the toss and chose to bat first. The bespectacled Tribe matched Pretorius shot for shot and went to his debut SA20 half-century in 34 balls with five fours and a six. Both men played some excellent shots against some erratic bowling in the power-play as they reached 66 in six overs, making full use of the new ball that came off the dry, grassless pitch with some pace to start with before slowing up in the later overs.

𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐒 is what Lhuan-dre Pretorius can do 🤩✈️

Paarl Royals' openers are giving Boland Park a show 🩷

📺 Stream #BetwaySA20 on DStv: https://t.co/rM90YyQxaw pic.twitter.com/iAUIHn3Gnu — SuperSport 🏆 (@SuperSportTV) January 2, 2026

Tribe eventually fell to MI Cape Town's skipper, Rashid Khan, caught on the boundary by Nicholas Pooran who saved a number of runs with some athletic stops on the fence. Skipper David Miller promoted himself to three in the order and struck three fours in his cameo of 19 before top-edging a slow bouncer from Trent Boult to short fine-leg.

Sikandar Raza came and went, Khan’s second victim after being trapped leg before by the legspinner, but it was Pretorius who maintained the momentum of the innings to the end.

Khan finished with 2/31 off his four overs with Boult claiming 1/33. Rabada, working his way back to fitness, went for 46 runs in his four overs.

PAARL ROYALS: Lhuan-dre Pretorius, Asa Tribe, Rubin Herman, Kyle Verreynne (wk), David Miller (capt), Sikandar Raza, Delano Potgieter, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Nqobani Mokoena, Bjorn Fortuin, Ottneil Baartman

MI CAPE TOWN: Rassie van der Dussen, Ryan Rickelton (wk), Jason Smith, Nicholas Pooran, Jacques Snyman, Tom Moores, George Linde, Trent Boult, Rashid Khan (capt), Kagiso Rabada, Dane Piedt.