These South African batters clocked 150-plus scores on Test debut
What's the story
Lhuan-dre Pretorius has become the youngest South African cricketer to score a Test century. He achieved this feat during his debut match against Zimbabwe in Bulawayo on Saturday. The 19-year-old, while batting at number five, played a solid 153-run knock as SA declared at 418/9 while batting first. On this note, let's look at SA batters with 150-plus scores on their Test debut.
#3
Lhuan-dre Pretorius - 153 vs Zimbabwe, 2025
Pretorius became just the third SA batter to enter this elite list. The youngster, who walked with his team struggling at 23/3, got off the mark on just his second ball. He hit Wellington Masakadza for a six on his fourth delivery and followed it up with a boundary. The youngster, who brought up his hundred off just 112 balls, eventually departed for 153 off 160 balls, slamming 11 fours and 4 sixes. He struck at 95.62.
#2
Andrew Hudson - 163 vs West Indies, 1992
Andrew Hudson played a solid knock on his Test debut against West Indies in the 1992 Bridgetown game. Hudson opened for SA and played a marathon knock in the second innings. He added 125 runs with skipper Kepler Wessels for the second wicket to power his team. Hudson eventually departed for 163 off as many as 384 balls as he hit 20 boundaries. Despite his efforts, WI won that game by 52 runs.
#3
Jacques Rudolph - 222* vs Bangladesh, 2003
Jacques Rudolph remains the only SA batter with a double-hundred on Test debut. The southpaw, who operated at three, scored an unbeaten 222 off 383 balls in the second innings of the 2003 Chattogram Test against Bangladesh. His stunning knock was laced with 29 fours and two sixes. He batted for around 1.5 days in the heat and added 429 runs with Boeta Dippenaar (177*). Their brilliance meant SA declared at 470/2d and later recorded an innings win.