By Mercy Kosgei

Kyle Verreynne was born in 1997 and started his sporting journey at one of the best schools in South Africa. He is a product of Wynberg Boys, its most famous and renowned alumnus, including Jacques Kallis, and has therefore demonstrated incredible excellence in the sporting career.

At the age of 16, Verreynne faced a life-threatening challenge where he was involved in an accident that broke his arm while playing hockey on the field. It took him quite some time to heal and this meant he missed selection for school and he decided to concentrate on cricket and left hockey.

In 2016, he featured in the Under-19 World Cup squad, playing as the second-highest scorer and standing out for his passing ability. In 2021, he took part in the Sixth Test where he recorded the second innings unbeaten (136) to help South Africa level a series in New Zealand. He then registered for the T20 level for Joburg Super Kings for the first season of South Africa Season 2 and Capitals Pretoria where he was ranked as the highest scorer with 116.

On Day 2 of the first Test series, the heat and humidity conditions were quite unfavorable for South Africa vs Bangladesh play. Mahmudul Hasan Joy, who was on 38, decided to skip to overlap Dane Piedt and managed to miss the ball with a wild drive. The ball bounced back and Kyle Verrenynne rallied to the right shoulder and knocked the ball over.

A double attacking partnership, in the first innings between Kyle and Wiann Mulder’s first half-century, as well as stiff resistance from Piedt, allowed South Africa to post 308, giving them a massive lead of 202 over Bangladesh. Kyle played tactfully, cleared every ball that came his way, unfortunately missing one from Litton. Verreynne had raced to a total of a hundred, needing 114 balls to score 114 and this enabled him to be ranked as his country’s 3rd wicketkeeper-batsman to test a hundred in Asia.

In a post-match interview, Kyle said: “It’s definitely one of my best innings of my Test career. About 90 percent of those innings were against spins alone. Things happen quickly. From a concentration point of view, you don’t have time to reset.”