Lhuan-dre Pretorius Becomes Youngest South African to Score Test Century on Debut, Shatters 61-Year Record

It was a debut to remember when Lhuan-dre Pretorius got a hundred in the opening Test match that South Africa played with Zimbabwe in Bulawayo. It was a century devoted by the dashing young South African as he broke through the national South African age record to become the youngest centurion of his country and also making the list of the youngest players to record a century debut in Test matches at the young age of 19 years.

South Africa was already 23/3 when Pretorius came in with Tanaka Chivanga claiming all the three wickets to open the innings. The lightening left-hand batsman, who had been recruited by Rajasthan Royals in the IPL as an injury replacement started punching back and rebuilding the innings. The 95-run alliance with another debutant in Dewald Brevis was where the two players revealed their massive potential just in 88 deliveries as he robbed the innings off Zimbabwe.

Lhuan-dre Pretorius brings up a CENTURY ON DEBUT ????????????

The last Proteas batter to achieve this was Stephen Cook in 2016 against England

Pretorius is only 19 years old, the youngest to ever do so ???? pic.twitter.com/3xnMMtabKx

— Werner (@Werries_) June 28, 2025

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At age 19 years and 93 days, Pretorius becomes the 10 th youngest centurion in the history of Test cricket, and the fifth to score a century on debut. Pretorius also made history in the sense that he beat a 61-year record of the youngest South African ever to have scored a Test match century by beating a record set in 1964 by one of the greatest cricketers the country has produced Graeme Pollock.

Pretorius ended his innings with a total of 153 on 160 balls, an innings that included 11 boundaries and four sixes, his partnership was finally ended by Chivanga. He did it at the youngest age than any player making most runs and thus being the youngest player to score 150 runs in the history of Test cricket by breaking the record of Javed Miandad.

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The left-hander who was the top run-getter during the 2025 season of the SA20 to break-through within the Protean circuit did not fail to deliver on the promise as he managed to get the runs even though he was not at his usual opening slot in the domestic cricket.

Pretorius is viewed as an enormous prospect for nation that raised the ICC Mace with their win in the ICC World Test Championships, and the inclusion of Pretorius alongside Dewald Brevis (51 on debut) will be a tremendous injection for a country who will have a very pleasant headache to deal with in terms of batters they will have to choose from very soon.

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