Matthew Breetzke

Matthew Breetzke player profile

Called a "real character with a similar mindset to Virat Kohli," by his Durban Super Giant's captain Keshav Maharaj, Matthew Breetzke is a proactive top-order batter and excellent fielder, who is known to handle pressure well.

His pedigree was clear from a young age, when he was included in Grey High's first team at the age of 14. Two years later, he was playing for the South African under-19 side, where he was a regular. He has scored over 1,000 runs in 25 youth ODIs, and was part of South Africa's squad for the 2018 Under-19 World Cup, where he was their second-highest run-scorer. Later that year, he was named in the South African Emerging Squad for a tour to Sri Lanka and in the 2018-19 summer, he made his provincial debut for Eastern Province.

It took a couple of seasons for Breetzke to make his mark at the professional level, and when he did, it was in the longest format. He was the top run-scorer in the CSA four-day first-class competition in the 2022-23 season and scored three hundreds and four fifties in 14 innings to average 60.58 for the tournament. But Breetzke was also known for being a quick run-getter and was selected for South Africa's T20I squad in September 2023, where he debuted against Australia.

He went on to become the third-highest run-scorer in 2024 edition of the SA20 and top batter at the CSA T20 Challenge but those numbers were not enough to earn a spot in South Africa's 2024 T20 World Cup. Instead, he signed a deal with Northants and continued a strong run of T20 form. He was among the top-scorers in the 2024 Vitality Blast. He was also named in South Africa's Test squad to play West Indies in August 2024.