Pretorius had never passed 51 in a T20I, and he was six short of a hundred against Zimbabwe
Lhuan-dre Pretorius made 94 off 51 balls in Windhoek, well beyond anything he had managed in the format before. South Africa won by 43 runs and are through to Sunday’s tri-series final.
Lhuan-dre Pretorius had faced 51 balls, hit 12 fours and three sixes, and was sitting on 94 when he tried to flick Brad Evans through the leg side and left his stumps open. He walked off six short of a first T20I hundred, in a format where he had never previously passed 51. South Africa finished on 185 for 7 and beat Zimbabwe by 43 runs in Windhoek on Tuesday, which put them in the final of the tri-series.
“I am just glad we won. Milestones can wait,” he said afterwards. “At one stage I thought we would exceed 200 runs.”
Zimbabwe were four down inside seven overs
Chasing 186, Zimbabwe were 43 for 4 inside the powerplay and never really got out of that. Sikandar Raza, their captain, top-scored with 45 and gave them a spell where the required rate looked survivable, but Bjorn Fortuin finished with 4 for 24 and the quick Duan Jansen took 3 for 21. Zimbabwe were all out for 142 with 14 balls of the innings still unused.
Dewald Brevis had made 41 in the South African innings, and Wessly Madhevere was the pick of the Zimbabwe bowlers with 3 for 20. It is the second time in this series that South Africa have beaten Zimbabwe, after a seven-wicket win on 29 August.
A Test century on debut, and a T20I game that had not caught up
Pretorius is 20, a left-hand opener, and his reputation was built in the longest format. In June 2025 he made 153 on Test debut against Zimbabwe at Bulawayo at 19 years and 93 days old, which made him the youngest South African to score a Test century, ahead of Graeme Pollock, and the youngest player in Test history to make 150 on debut.
His T20I record had not followed. Fifty-one was the most he had managed before Tuesday, which is an odd thing to write about a batter with that kind of range, and it is part of why the 94 matters more than the near miss. He hit 12 fours in it. That is not a slog.
South Africa lost the first game of this series
The FNB tri-series is being played entirely at the Namibia Cricket Ground in Windhoek, from 28 August to 6 September, and South Africa opened it by losing to Namibia by 18 runs. Namibia made 163 for 9 and held South Africa to 145 for 9. Two wins over Zimbabwe since have put South Africa top of the table on four points from three games.
Namibia have two points from two matches, Zimbabwe two from three with a net run rate of minus 1.691 after Tuesday. Namibia play Zimbabwe on Thursday and South Africa on Friday, and the final is on Sunday 6 September at the same ground. South Africa are already in it. Zimbabwe have one match left and can finish on four points at best, so Thursday is close to a knockout for them, and that run rate is not going to help if it comes down to a tiebreak.
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