Brevis has shown he can handle the pressure of international cricket.
At the pinnacle of international sport, talent and hard work are not enough. To find success, an athlete needs to be able to perform under pressure.
Some individuals who show real promise just aren’t able to make the step up and never reach their full potential.
Based on his early performances, it seemed Dewald Brevis might be one of those people who crumble when the chips are down.
Brevis played his first top-flight domestic match in 2021, at the age of 18, and he was almost immediately pinpointed as a future global star. And the hype continued to build in the early stages of his career as he became a key member of the Titans squad.
However, when he was eventually given an opportunity to represent the Proteas, in a T20 series against Australia in Durban in 2023, it didn’t go well. He scored just five runs in two matches.
These performances didn’t do much to give team management any real confidence in him, and Brevis was sent back to the Titans to work on his game.
Given another opportunity
Despite regular queries from fans and the media asking when he was going to get another chance, with Brevis still performing well at domestic level, it took nearly two years before he played another international game.
Again, he didn’t exactly set the world alight, and in his next six T20 matches he racked up only 135 runs at an average of 27.
But as it turns out, all the hype around him was justified, and the 22-year-old batter put any doubts to bed on Tuesday with one of the best limited overs innings ever produced by a Proteas player.
His record-breaking 125 not out in Darwin, which laid the foundation for South Africa’s victory, proved that Brevis is not the type of individual who crumbles under pressure. He just needed some time to find his feet at international level.
And now that he’s got an incredible knock under his belt, he should have the confidence to shine even brighter for the Proteas and reach his potential as a future legend of the sport.
