Matthew Breetzke spent Wednesday evening propped up in his London hotel, iPad balanced on his knees, watching Northamptonshire squeak past Surrey in a Blast quarter-final. Twenty-four hours later he walked out at Lord’s, reeled off 85, and helped South Africa edge England by five runs. The victory secured South Africa’s first one-day series win on English soil since May 1998 – six months before Breetzke was born.
Key facts first.
• Breetzke is the first man to score fifty or more in each of his first five ODIs; his running tally now reads 150, 83, 57, 88 and 85.
• His average sits at 92.60, plainly unsustainable but eye-catching all the same.
• South Africa lead the three-match series 2-0 with Southampton still to come on Sunday.
“It’s a bit worrying: it can only go downhill for me,” he joked afterwards. “It’s been a special start, to be honest. I’ve played on some really good wickets, and I just hope and pray that it’ll continue to go the way it’s gone… To be honest, I was bleak not to get to a hundred, because it would’ve been cool to be on the [honours] board.” (For the uninitiated, the Lord’s board records every Test and ODI centurion to bat there.)
The right-hander shook off a minor hamstring strain to share a 147-run stand with Tristan Stubbs – both products of Grey High School in Gqeberha. “I played a lot of cricket with [Stubbs] in my younger days… We have a really good relationship, so hopefully it can keep going the way it’s gone.”
County pull
Breetzke has piled up 863 T20 Blast runs for Northants across two seasons and signed a new two-year, all-format deal in July. Yet that hamstring complaint ruled him out of Wednesday’s knockout at The Oval, forcing him to watch Ravi Bopara’s hundred tilt the tie Northants’ way by seven runs. Finals Day at Edgbaston lands awkwardly between South Africa’s second and third T20 internationals against England next week; at present, Breetzke is not in the T20I squad. County and player alike hope that loophole remains.
“I’m not 100% sure, but I think I will be [available],” he said. “I love playing in England: the crowds and the energy they bring, there’s nothing better, I feed off it… I was watching [the quarter-final] in bed on my iPad there, on YouTube. It was nerve-wracking, but I’m really happy for the boys and looking forward to meeting them on Finals Day.” Northants captain David Willey has publicly echoed that wish.
Momentum from the red ball
June’s World Test Championship win, Breetzke insists, has filtered confidence through the whole South Africa set-up. “It starts at the top with Shukri Conrad… He’s very clear on what he wants and there’s no grey area.” That clarity showed in the field on Thursday: tight death bowling, sharp catching, uncomplicated plans.
Fatigue is a nagging theme for modern players and Breetzke, 24, already feels the squeeze. “It does get to you sometimes,” he admitted. “But for me, I just look at it like I’m so grateful to be playing a sport for a living. I just try to take every opportunity I get and try to make the most of it. It doesn’t last forever.”
South Africa’s dressing room planned “a few drinks” at Lord’s before their coach rolled south. A sweep is on the line at the Ageas Bowl; Breetzke, meanwhile, hopes the selectors leave him a free Saturday so he can pull on a Northants cap in Birmingham. One way or another he seems certain to clock up a few more air miles, and perhaps a few more runs, before this late-summer loop around England is done.
