Building Pretorius’ defence
Lhuan-dre Pretorius likes to attack, but he's not one-dimensional
Lhuan-dre Pretorius fills up space. He does it so much that he makes it look like there is only room for one individual in the crease. He converts the square into his personal domain. Pretorius takes ownership of the 2.21 x 1.22 metre box so much that one almost expects him to whip out a finger, ala Dikembe Mutombo, when a bowler tries to dominate the innings.
The teenager has been likened to Graeme Smith and Quinton de Kock; however, an argument can be made that he has a closer resemblance to Graeme Pollock.
"Take it to the bowlers, that was my philosophy. Put the bowlers under pressure and they start churning out a lot of crap,” Graeme Pollock, one of the best left-handers in South Africa's history told me in 2022.
Pretorius drives, punches, pulls, cuts, and nudges the ball all around the wicket with the confidence of a seasoned campaigner. He is also not shy to step out of the crease and dance down the track to loft or biff the ball for runs.
Pretorius is a modern Test number five. Classical number fives eked out their runs mostly in singles and twos and pounced on the bad delivery for boundaries. Contemporary number fives are forces of nature that turn good deliveries into boundary balls. They fight fire with fire.
However, Pretorius doesn’t only play one way. He also has a solid defensive technique, and one of his best shots isn’t expansive. It doesn't get him any runs when mid-on is up and yields a single when the fielder is at long-on. Pretorius employs it to counter deliveries meant to test his technique, and he executes it brilliantly.
Twenty-two days before his first-class debut, Pretorius was the only player in the nets at SuperSport Park. Richard das Neves was the only coach there with him. The pair was working towards Pretorius’ red-ball debut in three weeks.
“I was certain that I wanted him in the match-day squad against the Warriors, but we just needed to make sure that he had all his bases covered,” Das Neves shared.
There is little doubt that Lhuan-dre Pretorius would have made his first-class debut earlier had circumstances allowed. There is a huge gap between age-group and professional cricket; however, the data Das Neves had from u19 and provincial cricket told the coach that Pretorius was different.
His thoughts were confirmed between March and November 2024. Das Neves had an opportunity to watch Pretorius closely in the nets. The left-hander showed that he was better equipped than most players for the longer format. His physical tools were top-notch, and he had the right temperament.
“His national ID says he is 19, but his cricket ID is 28. He doesn’t think about the game like his age-mates, Lhuan-dre is advanced,” Das Neves explained.
Pretorius’ first-class debut was delayed because he was 14 days into his matric exam month when Titans began their red-ball campaign for the 2024-25 season. The Pretoria side was one week into their four-week break when he completed his educational commitments.
“We knew he was going to make his debut against the Warriors. The break gave us time to work on a couple of things,” Richard das Neves, Pretorius’ coach, shared.
The advent of the wobbleball has meant that modern bowlers have been angling the ball back towards off and middle stump. The genius of the delivery is that it kept all three modes of dismissal on the cards: bowled, lbw and caught behind.
“We felt that we needed to help him master that channel to take away those dismissals,” Das Neves recalled.
Over the next 19 days, Pretorius arrived at SuperSport Park about 45 minutes before the scheduled start of training and spent 30 minutes focusing on that area.
Das Neves operated the bowling machine and hurled balls that targeted the channel outside the off-stump, while others challenged Pretorius’ off- and middle-stumps. On some days, Pretorius stuck around for an extra session after training. On others, he did not.
The only constant was that he carried the drills home and spent two hours each day facing the bowling machine or throwdowns from his brother at home. The left-hander was as methodical at home as he was at SuperSport Park under Das Neves’ watchful eye and guidance.
Pretorius didn’t adopt the routine of taking drills home in November and December. It was a lifelong habit. He did so when he was at St Stithians College and continued to do so when he went over to Cornwall Hill College. The left-hander didn’t stop after he joined the Titans’ first team.
“Lhuan-dre is like Dewald Brevis. These two youngsters love their batting and are dedicated to improving their skills. When they spend hours hitting balls, they aren’t just doing it for fun; it’s always targeted practice,” Das Neves explained.
The hours he spent on the drills helped Pretorius develop a sense of where his off-stump is at all times. The work they did bore fruit when he walked out to bat against the Warriors in his maiden red-ball outing. Pretorius donned the whites again in March, and he registered his second first-class century against Western Province.
It was a blistering start to his red ball career; however, Pretorius dispelled any thoughts that he had been riding the wave of beginner’s luck with a match-saving century in the CSA 4-day final.
According to Das Neves, the left-hander simplified his game plan. Pretorius shelved most of his big shots when he faced Bjorn Fortuin, Codi Yusuf, and Delano Potgieter. He played straight and hit the ball down the ground. Pretorius spammed a single shot; he milked runs from the mid-on region.
He proved that his game is not one-dimensional with an even-paced 114 from 209 deliveries.