South Africa teen Pretorius hits century on Test debut

Lhuan-dre Pretorius became the youngest South African to hit a Test century when he reached the mark on debut on the first day of the first Test against Zimbabwe on Saturday.

The solidly-built left-hander, aged 19 years and 93 days, batted fearlessly after arriving at the crease with his team in trouble at 23 for three at Queens Sports Club.

Pretorius hit a six off the fourth ball he faced, from left-arm spinner Wellington Masakadza, then smiled broadly at batting partner Wiaan Mulder.

He hit another six and seven fours in reaching his century off 112 balls when South Africa were 207 for six half an hour before tea.

South Africa's previous youngest centurion was Graeme Pollock, who was aged 19 years and 318 days when he made 120 against Australia in Sydney in 1963/64. Pretorius became the seventh South African to make a century on Test debut.

Pretorius became the 10th youngest Test centurion of all time in a list headed by Mohammad Ashraful of Bangladesh, who was 17 years and 61 days old when he made a hundred against Sri Lanka in 2001.

It continued a meteoric rise to prominence for Pretorius, who made a century on his first-class debut last December when he was 18 and has now hit four centuries in eight matches.