Lhuan-dre Pretorius soaks up Proteas wisdom as he prepares for Aussie hostility

Proteas batter Lhuan-dre Pretorius is excited to learn from senior players, including Temba Bavuma and Aiden Markram, as he goes on tour for the first time with the full-strength team in Australia.

Pretorius, 19, has already made a name for himself in South Africa, having made light work of domestic cricket on graduating from schoolboy cricket.

For his dominance in first-class cricket this past season, the left-handed batter earned the Cricket South Africa Four-Day Series Player of the Year award at Emperor's Palace in Johannesburg last week.

The youngster has already donned the Proteas colours as he earned his Test and T20I debuts in Zimbabwe last month, where he also impressed with 150 on his Test debut and one half-century in T20Is.

His numbers have seen him earn a spot in the Proteas' full-strength team that is in Australia for three T20Is and three ODIs starting later this week.

Pretorius is on tour with Proteas household names, including T20I captain Aiden Markram, fast bowler Kagiso Rabada and Temba Bavuma, who will join the squad for the ODI series.

In an exclusive interview with SportsBoom.co.za, Pretorius revealed he is excited to become a sponge in the squad and absorb as much information as possible from the seasoned professionals.

“With the likes of KG, Temba, Aiden, [Ryan] Rickleton, all of those guys, I'm just super excited to learn and see how they play the game, how they see the game, how they speak, paying attention to how they do things that maybe can benefit me,” said Pretorius.

“Obviously, everyone's a different player, but you can take a little bit from each player and build your own legacy, if that makes sense.”

Australia is often a tough country to tour. The fans are passionate about their team and can be harsh to visiting teams and players.

Similarly, the Australian team is known for playing hard, adopting a 'bully' mentality on the field.

For a youngster such as Pretorius, this could be a challenge. However, Pretorius is fully aware of what could come in the next few weeks playing in Australia and is prepared.

The left-handed batter said chirping on the field brings out the best in him and the noise off the field doesn't have an impact on him.

“The media and the stuff that happens off the field, I don't really care about that stuff because I don't really look into that kind of stuff, but the on-the-field chirping, it does get me going,” said Pretorius.

“I do enjoy that quite a bit because it keeps me in the fight, and it just gives me another reason not to give my wicket away. I don't really care about what's going on off the field in terms of other people's perspectives and that kind of stuff.

“You don't want to overthink it. At the end of the day, it's bat against ball. It's not Lhuan-dre against another player, it's bat against ball and that helps you a lot. You do your thing, there's a reason you're playing there and there's a reason you got there. So just backing the processes, backing what's got you there. That's my mindset and how I do it.”

The T20I series is set to run from Sunday to August 16, while the ODI series will run from August 19 to 24.

— SportsBoom