Dewald Brevis took only 57 balls to remind everyone why South Africa kept talking about him. His unbeaten 125 in the second T20I against Australia in Darwin on 12 August is now the country’s highest score in the format and, at 22, he also became South Africa’s youngest T20I centurion. More than half his runs arrived straight down the ground; six of his eight sixes disappeared in the classic “V”. Captain Aiden Markram called it a “freakish display” during the television interview immediately after the match.
Asked to explain his method minutes later, Brevis shrugged. “That’s just my natural way of hitting,” he said. “I’ve hit thousands of balls and I just want to go out there, enjoy it and have fun and just watch it and then if it’s there, it happens. I don’t try to do it, I’m just trying to be myself and have fun and watch the ball and then it happens.”
Those words – “be myself” – matter because, for nearly three years, Brevis had been saddled with the nickname “Baby AB”. Comparisons with AB de Villiers helped open doors but, after a tough first taste of international cricket in 2023 (five runs in two T20Is), the same label felt heavy. A brief return to domestic cricket, even a spell on the Titans bench, followed. By his own admission the pause was painful, yet it ended up as the reset he needed.
“I believe God blessed me with a talent to play like that, to play aggressively. Last year, on 28 December, I made that commitment. I got a few people, they know who they are, who I trust and the main thing was just to be the original Dewald and to be on that side of it and every ball, wherever it is, to watch it and to hit it,” he explained.
Since that promise Brevis has stacked up numbers everywhere: a domestic T20 best of 162, the second-most runs in both first-class and List A competitions last season, and a central role in MI Cape Town’s SA20 title run. Those figures are part of the story. Equally important, coaches say, is the quieter work on strike rotation and fitness. “He’s always been able to hit long, now he’s learning when not to,” assistant coach JP Duminy noted earlier in the tour.
Brevis himself insists the belief never wavered. “I’ve always believed that this is where I need to be and where I will be, so I never had any doubt or anything. It’s all about cricket, how things work out. It is a roller coaster, you have your ups, you have your downs but I have never ever doubted myself.”
Would he have preferred the breakthrough to arrive sooner? “I would have loved to be here earlier but that’s all a part of your journey and that’s what makes you stronger. That’s why I’m here now,” he said. “It’s a reason for how I’m playing now. I had to make all those mistakes that all of the senior players actually warned me I would make. They told me to watch out for this, do this, do that and then I basically did exactly the opposite, so it’s important to go through that and to be able to be here now.”
Australia’s bowlers, led by Pat Cummins on a slow surface, rarely missed by much, yet Brevis’ long levers and crisp footwork turned decent yorkers into over-pitched offerings. Six of his boundaries were punched straight back past the bowler, an area analysts identify as the safest zone on the ground in today’s power-based game. “If he stays still, you’re bowling into his arc,” former Proteas quick Makhaya Ntini observed on local radio.
The result, a 25-run South African victory that levelled the three-match series, might fade; the innings probably will not. For Brevis the hundred is also a timely nudge to selectors finalising squads for the Champions Trophy and next year’s T20 World Cup.
There is still polish required. He ran out Markram on 22 with a stuttering call, and his final ten balls contained four swings-and-misses. Yet those are details for video sessions. The larger picture is a young batter who now sounds comfortable in his own skin, no nickname required.
