Proteas coach Shukri Conrad hopes Dewald Brevis 'always plays with the spirit of a 22-year-old'

Australian tours are renowned for the birth of future superstars. 

West Indian legend Brian Lara announced his arrival on the world stage with his maiden Test century at the SCG back in 1993 when he struck a majestic 277 in the New Year Test. It was a seminal moment in Lara’s career, who later named his daughter Sydney.

Thirty-two years later the cricketing world may yet have heralded the next global phenomenon in Dewald Brevis after the Proteas' recently completed white-ball tour Down Under.

The 22-year-old has been touted as a prodigy ever since breaking the record for the most runs at the ICC Under-19 World Cup in the Caribbean three years ago.

After a few years of finding his feet in the T20 Leagues around the world, Brevis shattered his glass ceiling with a breathtaking 125 not out off just 56 balls - a new record for South Africa’s highest-ever T20I score - in the second T20I against the Aussies in Darwin. 

The youngster brought a fearless attitude to the crease, often prepared to attack the Australian bowling from the outset by launching a six within his first couple of balls. 

It was reminiscent of the late Australian allrounder Andrew Symonds’ attack-minded approach to batting when he also began his first-class career as a teenager.

There is, however, a great deal of risk attached to it with Brevis holding out on the boundary early on in two innings during the subsequent ODI series before going again with a 28-ball 49 in the last match in Mackay.

After praising the youngster during the T20I series, the Aussies commentators changed tact and were critical of Brevis’ approach in the 50-over matches, stating “Nobody is good enough to hit every ball for six … not even the great Vivian Richards!”

So, does Proteas coach Shukri Conrad reign in Brevis for the longer white-ball format or does he give the youngster the freedom to go even harder on the upcoming tour of England? 

“It might look like it, but he definitely isn’t a one-trick pony,” Conrad said.

“We're talking horse parlance here now, but he's got the bit between the teeth and we want to just make sure that he doesn't have the blinkers on and take the blinkers off a bit and make him look around and see how better he can do the job that he does so particularly well.

“I think the big thing is that a lot of the experiences he'll find out for himself, he'll work it out. And yeah, we obviously sit down and chat, but we don't want to make too much of it.

“I think expectations are a hell of a thing. He's played this knock that I was really privileged to be able to see in terms of a T20 match. And I think everybody's always going to measure him against that every time he walks out to bat.

“Whether it's an ODI or a Test match or anything, they're always going to say, well, yeah. So anything compared to that is going to be a failure, you know. And it's going to look ugly when it doesn't come off.

“But he'll work it out. He's a smart young man. And I'll continually say this, he'll grow older, but I hope he always plays with the spirit of a 22-year-old.”

Conrad feels that a natural talent like Brevis will learn from his own experiences, and that as his coach, he is much more interested in his decision-making than approach. 

“If you look at (the second ODI) for example, taking on the short ball, we're on a slow-ish wicket where they were bowling a lot of cutters, three men back, longer side of the boundaries, longer side of the ground, strong wind blowing across, not very smart,” the 57-year-old explained.

“If it was done on the opposite end and he gets caught a deep square leg, I've got no issues with that because that's what you want to encourage.

“You want to encourage them to double down on what they do particularly well. Look at what they do best and not rein them in too much. Together with that, this is what experience will do for them, it will teach them some of the smarts of the game.”  

The Proteas departed for the UK on Monday where they will face England in three ODIs and three T20Is.