Dewald Brevis could mirror David Warner route into international cricket

Brevis is yet to play a first-class game but has starred in T20 cricket and is considered a crucial part of South Africa's future

Dewald Brevis could be in line for a rapid rise into international cricket in the way that David Warner experienced more than a decade ago.

Warner has since become one of the leading all-format players of his generation but first represented Australia before having played first-class cricket, becoming the first man to do so since 1877.

Brevis starred for South Africa Under-19s at the World Cup in 2022 but has otherwise done his best work in T20 cricket. He has played just six List A matches – all within a fortnight last December – and is yet to play a professional red-ball game.

"We understand someone like Brevis has a lot of cricket to play and now we have to see how we get him to that longer format? We know that he can offer a lot to South African cricket," said Enoch Nkwe, Cricket South Africa's director of cricket, who was speaking at the twin announcement of Shukri Conrad and Rob Walter as the Proteas' new head coaches, split across formats.

Conrad, who has previously coached Brevis as South Africa Under-19s head coach, will look after the Test side and Walter the white-ball teams.

^{Dewald Brevis has impressed in the SA20 (Sportzpics/CSA/SA20)}

South Africa's Test side were humbled in Australia in their most recent assignment, with the batting particularly fallible. Calls for Brevis' fast-tracking – and more widely for the introduction of a new generation – have followed.

"There's a lot of noise around Brevis," added Nkwe. "We know how good he is. He has shown it in SA20, he has played some good cricket and he has been pretty consistent in T20 cricket.

"In terms of youngsters, the reality moving forward, we might have to do a David-Warner type of approach where there is going to be the transition phase from under-19 cricket into professional cricket through T20 and then ODI and then Test cricket. That's something we foresee happening in the future."

Brevis, who is yet to make his international debut in any format but has a 162 in domestic T20, has shown his talent early in the SA20, making an unbeaten half century in the first game of the new tournament.

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