Matthew Breetzke may still be some months off from turning 21, but he came of age on the cricket field at a time when the Warriors needed him most.
On a balmy Saturday evening at St George’s Park, the 20-year-old former Grey High star took centre stage and showed everybody exactly what he is capable of although many had known it for some time.
He dazzled with spectacular stroke play in scoring an unbeaten maiden century as the Warriors qualified for the Momentum One-Day Cup semifinals by thrashing the Cape Cobras by nine wickets.
His previous highest score for the Warriors had been 57, but on Saturday he thrashed a superb 131 not out as the Warriors chased down 270 with 36 balls to spare.He helped himself to the Cobras bowling attack with absolute freedom in striking 13 fours and a six.
Watching his performance from the other end was skipper Jon-Jon Smuts who was equally impressive in making an undefeated 92 and was the first to embrace the youngster when he reached the magical mark.
This had been coming for some time. Breetzke had endured a frustrating time since making his Warriors debut almost two years ago. There had been a number of promising innings for him with bat but precious little conversion into significant scores which was odd considering his undoubted ability.
“It was a really special feeling,” man-of-the-match Breetzke said after the game. “I think it’s been a long time coming.
“I’ve got a lot of starts for the Warriors and to get the team over the line in a really important game means a lot to me,” he said.
It was a breathtaking performance by the Warriors duo of Breetzke and Smuts. They shared a record Warriors partnership for the second wicket of 207 eclipsing the previous best of 170 between Dumisa Makalima and Justin Kreusch made against Western Province 15 years ago.
“I didn’t know it was a record. Funnily enough, me and Jon-Jon were actually speaking about having a big partnership about a week ago.
“He said he’s keen to bat with me and have a big partnership and that happened tonight, so I’m pretty chuffed,” Breetzke, who made a record 18 hundreds for Grey High’s first team, said.
The victory would have come as a relief for the Warriors who snapped a losing streak of four matches to claim their berth in the semis away to the Dolphins in Durban on Thursday (1.30pm).
“That’s always going to be the tough thing with starting so well and when you win four on the bounce.
“To keep that up was always going to be difficult but, most importantly, we are through to the semifinals.”
Breetzke displayed an outpouring of emotion when he reached three figures in front of an unfortunately sparse crowd by leaping into the air, pointing his bat towards his team-mates and thumping his chest.
“It was very frustrating, but I haven’t thought too much about it. It happens. It’s life.
“People can say what they want, but I’m just growing and I’m happy with that. “Hopefully, we can get through to the final and hopefully I can have a big one and the team can get over the line again,” he said.