Theunis de Bruyn

Theunis de Bruyn is one of the upcoming prospects who is thought of very highly by many within South Africa. He has made quite a reputation in domestic cricket of being an aggressive batsman who carries a presence to the crease.

Cricket, as a career, wasn't always a straightforward choice for de Bruyn though. As a B.Com Accounting student at the University of Pretoria, he had two options: pursue cricket, or become a Chartered Accountant. Only one of those options offered security, but it wasn't the one that de Bruyn chose.

De Bruyn's potential was there to be seen from a young age. He was named player of the tournament at the national under-17 week, and two years later he was part of the South African Under-19 team that reached the World Cup semi-finals. However. just when things were looking up, a hip injury stalled his momentum and knocked him out of action for nine months. But when talent is deserving, there's not much that can keep it down for too long. Playing against a Protea-laden Titans side in a couple of pre-season warm-ups, he performed so well that coach Rob Walter stuck him straight into his team for the season opener.

He had a breakthrough debut season with the Titans in 2014/15, emerging as their top run-scorer in the triumphant one-day campaign. During this time, de Bruyn also made an impact in an unofficial Test for South Africa A against England A by scoring a double hundred against an attack which included the like of Mark Wood, Liam Plunkett and Boyd Rankin.

In his second season, de Bruyn became the third fastest South African batsman to score 1000 first class runs. However, his campaign was hampered by a badly-timed injury, after which he struggled to recover his place in the Titans side. The silver lining was a loan to the Knights, who were so impressed by his presence that they asked him to return the following season as captain. De Bruyn accepted and this season, at the age of 24, he led an unfancied and unfashionable team to their first trophy in nine years, becoming the second youngest captain after Hashim Amla to win the title in the franchise era.

Sure enough, the international call-up wasn't far away. De Bruyn was handed his first South Africa cap in a T20I against Sri Lanka in 2017. A couple of months later, he also made his Test debut, opening the batting against New Zealand at Hamilton.

By Cricbuzz Staff