Brevis hit 229 runs for the Pretoria Capitals in their last three matches of the SA20 season.
Big-hitting batter Dewald Brevis is finding form and maturity at just the right time, Pretoria Capitals captain Keshav Maharaj believes, on the eve of the T20 World Cup.
Brevis played a key role for the Capitals in the closing stages of the SA20 competition.
While the Pretoria side lost to Sunrisers Eastern Cape in the final at Newland on Sunday, Brevis was named Player of the Match after hitting 101 runs.
Hitting his straps
He didn’t get off to the best start in the competition, making 114 runs in eight matches at an average of 20.14, but Brevis came good at the back end of the popular T20 league.
In the Capitals’ last three matches he bashed 229 runs, including two half-centuries and a ton. And in his last two innings, when he made his biggest contributions of the competition, he scored at a strike rate of more than 180 despite being under pressure in play-off matches.
He finished as the second-highest run scorer of the tournament with a total of 370 in 11 innings, with only Sunrisers opener Quinton de Kock (390) making a larger overall contribution for his team.
“If we’re honest, maybe we held him back a little bit at the start of the comp and that’s maybe why it was a bit erratic in the way it came across,” Maharaj said.
“But I think with the responsibility of batting at four, he showed what he’s capable of.”
Showing maturity
One of the most exciting players in South African cricket, Brevis struggled to establish his place in the Proteas team in the early stages of his top-flight career, but the 22-year-old rising star is expected to play an important role for the national side in the three-match T20 International series against West Indies starting in Paarl tonight.
He could also be critical for the Proteas in their attempt to put up a fight at the T20 World Cup in India and Sri Lanka, where the SA team will play their first group match against Canada on 9 February.
“I’m pretty sure he’ll carry that momentum into the South African team in this West Indies series and the World Cup, and just going forward in general,” Maharaj said.
“I think he has shown maturity in these last couple of games… so hopefully it’s onwards and upwards from here for him.”
