In August 2018, Reeza Hendricks joined the short list of South Africans to have made a century on their ODI debut, cracking 102 from 89 balls to help beat Sri Lanka by 78 runs and seal an away series win.
Hendricks’ debut was built upon consistent performances in the domestic limited-overs game, first for Griqualand West and, latterly, for the Lions franchise.
His talent had also been spotted young, and he was part of South Africa’s squad for the Under-19 World Cup in Malaysia in 2008, which met Virat Kohli’s India Under-19 team in the tournament final.
In T20 cricket, Hendricks has fashioned a reputation as a destructive opener, adept at pacing a knock and scoring quickly at both the top and bottom of the innings. Never a slogger, Hendricks nevertheless doesn’t struggle to score quickly when he needs to, and his shot-making is particularly crisp through the covers.
Hendricks became a regular starter for South Africa in white-ball cricket in 2018, and also played a crucial part in Jozi Stars’ title-winning Mzansi Super League campaign with 412 runs in nine innings at a strike rate of 142.56 with four consecutive fifty-plus scores – including back-to-back hundreds.
