'No one better to ask than Klaas': The phone call behind Lhuan-dre Pretorius' return to form

The value of Betway SA20 stretches beyond team boundaries. It is for this reason that Paarl Royals youngster Lhuan-dre Pretorius felt comfortable enough to give Durban’s Super Giants’ kingpin Heinrich Klaasen a call.

Pretorius, by his own admission, was in the midst of a bit of a slump. After a maiden franchise T20 century in the MLC, the Betway SA20 Season 3 top-scorer endured a bit of a wobble in The Hundred recently and had misfired in the Proteas’ opening two matches in the ongoing T20I tri-series in Namibia.

The 20-year-old wanted to hear from someone who had seen and done it all before. Enter Klaasen - one of the most prolific T20 franchise batters in the world.

"Coming off a couple of low scores in The Hundred and in the first two games here, I just felt like I had to speak to him (Klaasen)," Pretorius said.

"He's obviously played a lot of T20 cricket around the world, and he's experienced most things - all the ups and the downs, the lows and the highs. I felt like he was a good person to speak to, and I talk to him a lot.

"He always tells me I can go to him and ask for advice, and I felt like there was no one better to ask than Klaas right now."

The pep talk did Pretorius the world of good. Not only did he respond with a T20I career-best 94 off 51 balls (12x4, 3x6) against Zimbabwe on Tuesday, but he seemed much calmer at the crease and not so much in a hurry as in previous matches.

So, what exactly were the pearls of wisdom Klaasen shared with the former Cornwall Hill College prodigy?

"He just told me to give myself the best chance I can, get to 15 balls, and put those small targets in front of me - that's all I was focused on,” Pretorius said. "He helped me, and luckily it paid off."

Pretorius is also not fazed that Klaasen bats in the middle order compared to his opener’s position, as it's more about the mental approach to his innings.

"We obviously play different roles - he bats in the middle, but he's experienced it, and he's a proper batter. I feel we're both aggressive batters, which is how most guys who play T20 cricket nowadays approach the game," he said.

"But there's nothing wrong with him playing a different role to me - it's more about the mindset than the role. I feel like we can talk, and we have some similarities there, and he really helped me in terms of my mindset."

Pretorius also showed signs of his growing maturity by brushing off the fact that he had missed out on his maiden T20 century by just six runs.

"Ag, it’s fine. I was a bit gutted because we said after 14 overs we wanted to get to 200. I knew that if we got to 200 I would get to the milestone," he said.

"T20 hundreds are very rare. International T20 hundreds are even more rare. But I wasn’t too fussed about it. I believe milestones will come and go."