South Africa’s Pretorius smashes Gayle’s T20 cricket record score
Twenty-year-old South African Lhuan-dre Pretorius scored an unbeaten 188 off 79 balls for the Titans against the Knights in Bloemfontein, surpassing Chris Gayle’s T20 highest of 175. Pretorius struck 13 sixes and 14 fours as the Titans posted 267-3 and won by 124 runs after bowling the Knights out for 143.
Why It Matters
Pretorius’s innings sets a new record for highest individual T20 score, eclipsing a mark that stood since 2013 and boosting the Titans to one of the competition’s biggest totals. The performance is notable both for its scale and for the fact the 20-year-old has already played in all three formats for South Africa.
Key Facts
- Player: Lhuan-dre Pretorius
- Score: 188 not out
- Balls faced: 79
- Sixes: 13
- Fours: 14},{
Lhuan-dre Pretorius produced a record-breaking performance in the CSA Challenge at Bloemfontein, finishing 188 not out from 79 deliveries to register the highest individual score in T20 cricket. The 20-year-old left-hander’s innings included 13 sixes and 14 fours as he opened for the Titans against the Knights. He reached his half-century in 24 balls, took a further 16 deliveries to complete his century and needed another 18 balls to pass 150.
Pretorius’s 188 overtook the previous T20 benchmark of 175 set by Chris Gayle for Bengaluru in the 2013 Indian Premier League; Gayle’s innings had come off 66 balls and featured 17 sixes and 13 fours. According to Cricinfo, Pretorius has played 91 T20 matches at a strike rate of 150.44. He has also represented South Africa across all three international formats.
The Titans posted 267-3, their second-highest total in the competition’s history, and then bowled the Knights out for 143 to win by 124 runs. Sinethemba Qeshile was the team’s next-highest scorer with 14. The Titans’ only larger score in the CSA Challenge was 271 against the Kings in 2022, when Dewald Brevis scored 162; Brevis made seven in Friday’s match. Pretorius’s innings involved facing the equivalent of more than 13 overs, a tally that ties Australians Aaron Finch and Marcus Stoinis for the most balls faced in a single T20 innings.
Pretorius was making his first appearance for the Titans this season after a September three-nation series in Namibia where he scored 226 runs, tied with Dewald Brevis for the tournament lead. The Bloemfontein outing marks a major personal milestone and a new high-water mark for individual scoring in Twenty20 cricket.
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