Never Change, Dewald
He plays spin with positive intent
Saeed Ajmal was a predator. He didn't meticulously set traps and try to lure batters into them. He purposefully hunted them down. That's how he ended up as the sixth man to take 100 or more Test wickets despite debuting after turning 30. Ajmal believed he could dismiss a batter with the first ball of his over, and the moment he unfurled himself from his power pose, most batters were convinced too.
Faf du Plessis only needed to see him warming up to believe Ajmal was going to dismiss him. The Pakistan spinner had so much real estate in Du Plessis' mind that the former South African captain once shared that sometimes he woke up in the middle of the night after nightmares of Ajmal bowling at him.
Ajmal has had no competition for the title of Pakistan's best all-format spinner since 2000. He was unplayable at his best, between 2008 and 2014. In that period, one of a handful of batters he couldn't dismiss was Virat Kohli. Ajmal only dismissed Kohli once in more than six meetings.
In 2012, Kohli carved an Ajmal delivery for a four to reach 50 runs in an Asia Cup match. The delivery was flat and short, Virat Kohli rocked back and cut the ball just wide of the fielder at point. The placement and timing were perfect. Ajmal didn't dismiss Kohli in that encounter and the Indian batter scored against him at a strike rate of 124. That year, Ajmal and Kohli also crossed swords in a T20 match and Kohli registered a strike rate of 145 against the tweaker, again, unbeaten.
Peak Ajmal had just met peak Kohli against spin. This was the version of Virat Kohli that was good at the flick and drive against spinners. The wristy player of spin. The hallmark of Kohli's game against spin, until 2019, was his intent towards spinners. He has a sub-30 dot ball percentage against in T20 cricket, sub-40 in ODIs and 60s in Tests.
This was also the version of Virat Kohli that Dewald Brevis had a poster of as a youngster. It was a picture of Kohli on the drive. For years, Brevis mimicked the Virat Kohli drive.
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Jon Jon Smuts is no Saeed Ajmal, but his first-class bowling average is one of the 10 best in domestic 4-Day cricket.
Brevis made his intentions towards Smuts in the 61st over clear. The 21-year-old tried to swat a wide-ish delivery for a four. The left-arm orthodox spinner adjusted his line and pitched the ball in line with the fourth stump. Brevis dabbed it for no runs. The third delivery was short and Brevis got under it, launching it over the leg-side boundary for a six.
Smuts made another adjustment, went stump-to-stump on a full length. A regular South African batter would probably have looked to block it. That's how many get themselves in trouble when facing spin. They get defensive and adopt a negative mindsets. Dewald Brevis is not a regular South African batter. He doesn't look to survive when facing spinners, he looks to score.
In 2020, Andy Zaltzman pored over 135 years of Test cricket statistics, involving more than 73,000 innings. He found that a batter is less likely to be dismissed in the 90s than at any other stage of their innings below the 150s. Batters in the 90s had a 17.6% chance of being out before reaching their century.
That's because batters adopt a more cautious approach in the 90s and their focus is sharper than the 70s or 80s. They take forever in that decade.
Against the Dolphins, Brevis faced only six deliveries and didn't score off two of them. The Dolphins had two spinners operating in tandem, and instead of tying him down, he attacked them
Brevis smashed the sixth delivery through the long-on region for a four to bring up his 100.
In the 102nd over, Brevis took down Prenelan Subrayen's right-arm offies, scoring 13 runs from the over to go from 135 to 148 in five deliveries. In the next over, he straight-batted one down the ground for a single and then steered a short Daryn Dupavillon delivery to third for three runs to register his maiden first-class 150.
Brevis was dismissed for 159 runs off 172 balls. When he arrived at the crease, the Titans were on 107/2. He catapulted them to 418/7. None of the top six batters scored at a strike rate of 50 or more, while Brevis was flying at 92.
Joshua van Heerden went at 46 for his 52, Neil Brand's 43 came at just under 33, and Keegan Petersen didn’t get his eye in and was dismissed for eight from 20. Jhedli van Briesies scored one from 16 and Rivaldo Moonsamy went at just under 50 for his 46.
South Africa has precious few batters who feel so comfortable against spin, and Brevis is one of them.
Never change, Dewald.
One last thing:
Brevis was one of five centurions from the last round of four-day matches. The others were George Linde (152), Eddie Moore (127), Raynard Van Tonder (120) and Bjorn Fortuin (120). The only name missing from that list is Jordan Hermann. The Warriors opener fell two runs shy of a ton. He scored 98 from 170 against Western Province.
This is the second time he has fallen in the upper-90s in three matches. He was dismissed for 99 off 184 in their season opener against the Dragons. Hermann already has a century this season, he chalked 152 off 305 against Boland last week. The 22-year-old is the highest run-scorer in the competition with 389 runs in three matches.
Judging by his run tally, Hermann should be the first pick for SA A, though the two dismissals just before the ton are not ideal. Hundreds give your team a chance and big hundreds multiply that chance by three.
The Warriors have two batters on the top three run-scorers list. Matthew de Villiers, who is enjoying a dream start to his first-class career, has scored 266 in three matches, with three half-centuries to his name.
The De Villiers Twitter hype train is already chugging along. It's difficult not to want him to do well after his fairytale start. Last year, De Villiers was 23 and playing club cricket for Claremont Cricket Club. Robbie Petersen heard about him, had a look, liked what he saw and brought him to St George's Park.
This is a quintessential Robbie Petersen story. He has a good eye for talent. He briefly saw Tristan Stubbs in the nets and knew that he wanted to sign him on the spot.
De Villiers fits in nicely with the Warriors. The St George's Park team has the youngest top-six in the league. Matthew Breetzke, aged 26, is the oldest specialist batter in the side. They have three 25-year-olds, three 24-year-olds and a 22-year-old as their choices. Like everyone else around him, De Villiers also looks like a batter with a high ceiling.
Bat on Matthew.