Dewald Brevis in action for the Titans against the Rocks during the CSA T20 Challenge final earlier this year. Picture: Gallo Images
As his debut pro season continues to flourish, Dewald Brevis must be slowly forcing his way into the Proteas T20 World Cup plans.
The 18-year-old is building on his breakout season, with some impressive performances for the Mumbai Indians in the Indian Premier League bolstering his already burgeoning reputation.
With the World Cup set for Australia in October and November, Brevis is currently facing the biggest test of his credentials at the IPL, and the next level will be international cricket.
He has played in four matches for the Mumbai Indians so far and has shown his destructive batting talent with innings of 29 off 19 against the Kolkata Knight Riders, 49 off 25 against the Punjab Kings and 31 off 13 against the Lucknow Super Giants.
These are more than solid numbers for an 18-year-old in his debut IPL season, facing some of the best T20 talent from around the world, and this should give him plenty of confidence going forward.
In last year’s T20 World Cup the Proteas put in a decent showing, but just missed out on the knockout phase of the tournament because they were lacking x-factor players, and that is what Brevis brings to the table.
With an ODI, T20 and Test tour to England scheduled for July and August, it could be the perfect opportunity to bring Brevis into the Proteas mix and see if he can perform on the international stage.
However, he will probably only be included in the ODI and T20 squads, as he has yet to play a senior first-class match, while his only senior appearances to date have come in the shortest format after representing the Titans in the CSA T20 competition, and now at the IPL.
His lack of experience at first-class level means a Test call up is probably beyond him at this stage, but his performances in 50-over cricket at the U-19 World Cup and in T20 cricket at a senior level so far signal that he is ready for the big time.
Other x-factor players who are also worth a look-in for the Proteas at the World Cup could be the Warriors duo of Tristan Stubbs and Wihan Lubbe.
The 21-year-old Stubbs displayed x-factor potential with a superb showing during this year’s CSA T20 competition, finishing as the second-highest run scorer with a ridiculous strike-rate of 183.12.
Lubbe also impressed, finishing fourth on the run scorers list, while backing that up in the CSA one day challenge where he finished as the second-highest run scorer, hitting three centuries in the competition.
Both players have been rewarded by being called up to the South African A squad for their tour of Zimbabwe at the end April and early May, where they will get the chance to prove their worth in the T20Is.
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