A South African cricketer who helped seal victory over Australia with his country’s highest ever men’s T20 cricket score has credited God with his success.
On Aug. 13, Dewald Brevis, 22, illuminated Darwin’s Marrara Oval in northern Australia with an unbeaten 125 runs from just 56 balls with 12 fours and eight sixes, taking South Africa to 218 runs—a score the Australians could not beat.
The performance helped end Australia’s nine-game winning streak, with a final deciding match to be played in Cairns on Aug. 16.
Brevis’ score is the highest in the Twenty20 format for any South African men’s player, and was also achieved in 41 balls, the second fastest of any countrymen.
In the post match press conference, Brevis started by praising God for his achievement, a sentiment he repeated throughout.
“Always, I believe God blessed me with a talent to play like that,” he told reporters.
“I’ve hit 1,000s of balls, and I just want to go out there, enjoy it and have fun.”
At one point in the game, Brevis looked to the sky after making his 100.
“When I reached that century, the most important thing for me was it wasn’t me,” he said.
“It’s all God. I give it all to him, all glory, and he blessed me with a talent to play like that.
“And yeah, that’s the first person I gave all the glory to. And then it was fun that moment, a special moment.”
Brevis says he loves to live in the moment, with a confidence clearly boosted by his strong faith.
“I’ve always believed that this is where I need to be and where I’ll be, so I never doubt or anything, it’s all about cricket, how things work out,” he said.
“It is a roller coaster. You have your ups, you have your downs, and yeah … never, ever have I doubted myself.”
While the Aussies put in some stellar effort, the side struggled to keep up with Brevis, finishing their 20 overs at 165, falling short by 53 runs.
The Game Explained
Twenty20 (or T20) cricket is a short form of the cricket game where each team plays a single innings of 20 overs (an over being six balls) with the aim of scoring as many runs as possible.
The opposing team is tasked with knocking the other’s batsmen out and limiting their score.
Cricket bears some resemblance to baseball where both teams take turns batting and fielding and score “runs.”
Twenty20 matches generally take no more than three hours and often rely on aggressive gameplay and clever bowling moves. The format has proven to be a ratings and financial boon for world cricket, which has struggled with the shrinking attention span of audiences.
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