On Monday, February 10, Matthew Breetzke, a rising star batsman and gun fielder, made his eagerly anticipated ODI debut for South Africa (SA) against New Zealand (NZ) in the second ODI of the Pakistan Tri-Nation Series 2025. Notably, both teams are honing their lineups and tactical skills in preparation for the 2025 Champions Trophy. Pakistan, who are the third team in this ODI series, is hosting the ICC mega cricket tournament.
New Zealand, the tournament’s first-place champion, will play South Africa in Lahore today. Mitchell Santner, the Kiwi captain, put South Africa in to bat first in the current game. With a very inexperienced squad for the tri-series, South Africa began by batting first, with captain Bavuma and his partner Matthew Breetzke leading from the front.
Breetzke and Jason Smith supported each other as they put up a 93-run partnership to save the Proteas from early difficulties, even though the team lost their captain early on after the two shared 37 runs. An unconcerned Breetzke not only smashed his first ODI century on debut, but also turned it into a whirlwind knock of 150 runs off 148 balls, despite the African team losing another wicket in the form of their wicketkeeper. He so became just the fourth South African to reach a century in his first ODI match.
Early developments in domestic cricket in Matthew Breetzke
The aggressive batting style of the batter, who has a mindset similar to that of Virat Kohli, helped him advance through the domestic cricket circuit, according to his skipper, Keshav Maharaj of the Durban Super Giants. Breeztke’s performance in the domestic T20 cricket setup continued to be strong. Regarding his early cricket career, the stunning batter began by playing for Grey High when he was just 14 years old.
After that, two years later, he made his debut for South Africa’s Under 19 team, scoring more than 1,000 runs in 25 youth ODI matches. Notably, his breakthrough year was in 2018, when he became the tournament’s second-highest run scorer after destroying the opposition with his batting mayhem. He then went on to play against Sri Lanka that same year as a member of South Africa’s developing squad.
He played for Eastern Province in the 2018–19 season after those experiences. He then participated in the four-day First-Class event hosted by Cricket South Africa (CSA). Breetzke ended as the top run scorer after once again wreaking havoc with his batting prowess. He went on to score three hundreds and four half-centuries in these matches. Interestingly, he also kept up a strong average of 60.58.
Breetzke is selected by the Lucknow Super Giants for the 2025 IPL.
Despite missing out on the World Cup bus, Matthew Breetzke kept up his strong play in the shortest format. He ultimately made the decision to play for the Northants in The Hundred. He was targeted by the well-liked Lucknow Super Giants (LSG), an IPL (Indian Premier League) team, even though he was not given the opportunity to play for South Africa in the national colours. LSG purchased the big hitter for INR 75 lacs at the massive IPL 2025 auctions. Many experts and fans expect that Breetzke would have the opportunity to display his skills at the 2025 Indian Premier League.
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