Pretorius smashes Gayle's T20 record score

Paris, Oct 4: Lhuan-dre Pretorius hit 188 not out off 79 deliveries in Bloemfontein to break Chris Gayle's record score in the T20 format.

Playing for the Titans against the Knights in the South African CSA Challenge, the 20-year-old left hander opened the batting and hit 13 sixes and 14 fours in his innings to surpass Gayle's 175 for Bengaluru in the Indian Premier League in 2013.

Pretorius reached 50 in 24 balls, needed 16 more to get to his century and took another 18 to hit 150.

Gayle scored his 175 off 66 balls striking 17 sixes and 13 fours.

The 20-year-old has represented South Africa in all three international formats. He was making his first Titans appearance of the season after scoring 226 total runs, tied for most with Dewald Brevis, in a three-nation series in Namibia in September.

On Friday, he dominated the strike, facing the equivalent of more than 13 overs to tie Australians Aaron Finch and Marcus Stoinis for the most balls faced in a T20 innings.�"AFP