How Dewald Brevis’ high school coach helped him discover his new-found consistency

Dewald Brevis of Momentum Multiply Titans brings an end to the innings of Hanu Viljoen of Hollywoodbets Dolphins during the CSA 1-Day Domestic Cup, Division 1 qualifier match between Hollywoodbets Dolphins and Momentum Multiply Titans at Hollywoodbets Kingsmead Stadium on March 12, 2025 in Durban, South Africa. (Photo by Gerhard Duraan/Gallo Images)

By Keanan Hemmonsbey

18 Mar 2025

Dewald Brevis’ supreme talent is, for the first time, being complimented with consistency, which is turning him into a seriously devastating batter.

Since he first burst on to the scene in 2022 at the Under-19 Cricket World Cup, Dewald Brevis’ talent has been undeniable.

The 506 runs he scored then — which included two centuries and three fifties — made him the highest-ever run scorer in the tournament’s history.

His ability to transfer that talent into professional cricket seemed a foregone conclusion, and it was mostly so as he showed sporadic signs of genius. But consistency was lacking, as is largely expected from someone still in their teens and early twenties.

But Brevis isn’t like anyone else his age, and he tackled this year with the ambition of becoming a consistent player whose form belies his young age.

“These past two years played a massive role, especially 2024,” Brevis told Daily Maverick. “There were lots of highs, positives and nice things, but also lows. And 2025, mentally I just knew it (would be my year).

Brevis looked to his high school coach at Afrikaanse Hoër Seunskool, who had been with him when things were rosy, to help him get back to dominating bowlers more regularly

“My 2025 started on 28 December 2024,” the Red Bull athlete said. “I went to Stellenbosch, met up with my school coach, Deon Botes.

“He’s been with me since very young and he knows me as a person.

Dewald Brevis during a training session. (Photo: Red Bull)

I basically almost discovered myself and things about my game. Literally, I was batting for hours. Every day, I had blisters on my hands. At the start of the training and games, I had to put medical stuff on my blisters to help them heal.

“It started there. The main thing is I want to be consistent in how I play.

I faded a bit away from that in the middle part of my career, so far. But I’m right back on track to play the way I want to.”

Special coach

Brevis was noted as a rising star of the SA20, in which his MI Cape Town side clinched the title. Although it seems as though the hard-hitting middle-order batsman has been around for a long time, he is still only 21 years old.

He took his batting average from 18.75 in 2024 to 48.50 in 2025, nearly doubling the amount of runs he scored. His already impressive strike rate of 140.19 also shot up to 184.18 within 12 months of the same competition.

Brevis puts his vast improvement down to the work he did with Botes as he travelled from Centurion, where he plays his domestic cricket for the Titans, to Cape Town for the SA20 earlier than the rest of his squad to work with the coach.

“I started with him from under-12,” Brevis said. “He was my high school coach. He’s been a part of my journey. He’s basically a part of my roots. I’ve always kept in touch with him, but never had time to really have another session. I just felt like this is the thing I had to do. I went to Cape Town earlier, and I started doing it.”

According to Brevis, he hit a few thousand balls in the days he spent training at the end of December.

“Meneer Botes, I rate him extremely highly,” he said. “I think he could be coaching any team in world cricket with his knowledge. The thing about it is, we’ve got a special bond. He’s known me from the age of, like I said, 12. He’s seen me develop.

“He’s basically seen me playing the way I should play. If you play school cricket, there’s no pressure. He really knows me.

“He was just a key part of me getting me to enjoy every moment of it. I’ve always enjoyed cricket, don’t get me wrong, but just helping me and giving the right advice.

“It was amazing, the stuff we did. I’m talking about thousands of balls before the SA20. Probably 1,500, 2,000 balls in two days, but it was special. I’m extremely grateful for his help.”

Listening to the right people

Brevis has carried that spectacular form into the recently concluded One-Day Cup, which ended with him having scored the second-most runs in the tournament (398) for the Titans behind the Dolphins’ Jon-Jon Smuts (473), who batted in two more innings.

In the first match of the One-Day Cup Brevis fell for three runs against Boland. In the next six innings he batted, his lowest score was 36 — which was still the highest score by his side on the day — as well as notching up three half centuries and one hundred.

His strike rate of 156.07 — more than 30 more than any batter with over 100 runs — is also incredibly impressive, demonstrating the degree to which he has been dominating the bowlers on the domestic scene.

Brevis brings an end to the innings of Hanu Viljoen of the Dolphins during the One-Day Domestic Cup on 12 March 2025 in Durban, South Africa. (Photo: Gerhard Duraan/Gallo Images)

Outside of working with Botes, listening to the right people has additionally aided the mental side of his game.

“You speak to a lot of people,” Brevis said. “People speak to you trying to help you. People are only trying to help you. Sometimes, if you listen to too many people, it can be a problem.

“I’ve got people in my corner. They know who they are. I’m extremely grateful for them. I’m back on track. I’m back to the old DB, the way I want to play. I want to be consistent in that way, and I’ll do whatever it takes.”

For the first year in his professional cricketing career, Brevis does not have an Indian Premier League (IPL) contract for the upcoming season — following his inconsistency over the past few years.

He is currently playing better than he ever has, and if there are any late withdrawals from the most prestigious franchise T20 tournament, his name will be toward the top of the list to be jetted into the event. DM

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Listening to the right people