Just two years ago, top-order batter Dewald Brevis was billed as the next big thing in South African cricket. A couple of seasons on, its unclear whether hes going to make the grade.
It seemed like a permanent spot for Brevis in the national team was inevitable after he displayed tremendous talent as a teenager, but after he was omitted from the national squad this week for next months T20 World Cup , it was hardly considered a surprise.
At the U-19 World Cup in 2021, Brevis scored two centuries and three fifties and was named Player of the Tournament.
Again turning heads in October 2022, at the age of 19, he set a record for the highest T20 score in South Africa, smashing 162 runs off just 57 balls for the Titans against the Knights in Potchefstroom.
Struggling to convertSince then, however, he has struggled to convert that form at elite level and remains sidelined from the national team.
In his only two games for the Proteas, he has scored just five runs in the T20 format. More concerning, however, has been his domestic performances for the Titans.
In the first-class format, he has averaged just 34.77 in 11 matches, while in 61 T20 matches he has averaged 24.98.
In one-day games he has performed better, averaging 44.21 in 15 matches, but that wasnt enough to sway Proteas coach Rob Walter when he was picking the national squad for the upcoming T20 World Cup.
Turning it aroundBrevis, who turned 21 on Monday, still has plenty of time to turn things around, and perhaps his recent struggles have been more the fault of others than his own.
When a junior player performs as well as he did, theres always a danger that they get pushed into senior setups too quickly, and the pressure of playing at that level can be debilitating for a teenager.
It is obvious that he has the potential, but he needs to be able to climb the ladder without being shoved before hes ready.
Top-flight cricket can be a cauldron of stress and Brevis must be given a chance to find his feet or his talent might go to waste.
