Dwaine Pretorius

Dwaine Pretorius (born 29 March 1989) is a former South African international cricketer who currently plays in various T20 leagues around the globe and for North West in domestic cricket as a bowling all-rounder. He announced his retirement from international cricket on 9 January 2023. Quotes I actually enjoy the quick turnaround of this tournament. The reason is because there's not much travelling. You've got that week before [SA20 to train], and then, as soon as you get into the tournament, there is no time because you're flying in between cities. You're playing home and away, home and away, home and away. [In the ILT20], when you have an off day, you really have an off day - it's not a travel day. The guys that can bowl 145-150kph, they bowl the same plan every game… It doesn't really matter what the conditions are like, because that's their skill set, right? But their bodies take a bit more punishment You are one bad game away from not playing again, or not earning money or not being able to put food on the table, but that's fine, You need to keep reinventing yourself, and then speaking to experienced players around the globe, and just taking some information from them, It's really important to not get stuck on the improvement part and really master your skillset, what makes you unique. At the end of the day, if you take care of the process and master your skills and make sure that you're a master of what your skillset is, [the question] becomes - does the team need your skillset or not? And if they don't, then they don't, and I've done everything to give myself the best chance. I don't think you can be the answer for everyone. You need to really know and understand what the conditions are doing. You need to know what your ball options are. So there's much more thinking that goes behind the scenes, when you're trying to be a player with my specific skillset. You only have 12 balls to impact the game [with the bat]. So you can't rock up there, not really sure what the length is that they're going to bowl on this wicket. What are the probable options? You need that information. You don't have six or seven balls to feel the wicket… to find out what this guy is doing. You need to have a straight impact. currently, cricket is really far behind the rest of the world in terms of utilising numbers [gathering] as much information as possible - what's nice is if you keep playing against the same players, you start learning their strengths and where they don't like it, But again, my skill set as an allrounder is not of the nature that I can just rock up and play and have an impact. I need to make sure that all the percentages are in my favour, and that I've done all my own work to make sure that I'm 5% or 10% better. I mean, how hard do we work in the nets to get 5% to 10% better? I believe stats instantly make you 5% or 10% better. Mentally, there's a lot of ups and downs in the role that I play for teams. But I enjoy the challenge… It's also part of my nature to do some problem solving - find out where I went wrong, what can I improve on, how do we get better? It's an ever-evolving game We are very fortunate in our team to have six or seven bowling options… With bowling, it's a bit more of trying to prepare for three roles, because you might be asked to bowl in the powerplay. What are your plans there? Who are the [top four] in the powerplay? What do they look to do? Prepare for that. Maybe 12 balls in the nets for that type of scenario. Then in the middle, look at the possible batters we might face there. What do they like? What don't they like? And then also at the backend… looking at all the batters, you have that thing there. We are very fortunate in our team to have six or seven bowling options… With bowling, it's a bit more of trying to prepare for three roles, because you might be asked to bowl in the powerplay. What are your plans there? Who are the [top four] in the powerplay? What do they look to do? Prepare for that. Maybe 12 balls in the nets for that type of scenario. Then in the middle, look at the possible batters we might face there. What do they like? What don't they like? And then also at the backend… looking at all the batters, you have that thing there. A conversation I had with Mark Boucher one day really transformed my game. At the end of the day, I think players get themselves into trouble if they try and be like someone else and not really master what makes them, them. Ever since that conversation, my batting and my bowling and everything has improved. "Pretorius on life as a freelancer: 'I don't think you can be the answer for everyone", Cricinfo (December 2025) External links Category:Cricketers from South Africa Category:Living people Category:1986 births