27-year-old South African opening batter Tony de Zorzi scored his first-ever Test century in the second Test against Bangladesh in Chattogram. First he formed a decent 69-run opening stand with skipper Aiden Markram and then went on to form an incredible stand of over 100 runs with Tristan Stubbs. In the process, de Zorzi would go on to score his first-ever century in red-ball cricket.
The century would massively help the Proteas in crossing the 200-run mark ahead of Tea on the first day. De Zorzi would finish the second session unbeaten on 101 off 152 deliveries, scoring 8 boundaries and 2 sixes.
De Zorzi, first came into the spotlight when he was selected as South Africa’s captain for the 2016 Under-19 World Cup. However, things didn’t go as planed for the Proteas who ended up finishing 11th and de Zorzi came back home and returned to playing club cricket.
It would be in 2020 when de Zorzi’s career would finally begin to blossom as he made his move to the Western Cape side. De Zorzi averaged 48.33 in first-class cricket in the 2021/22 season and 69.00 in the 2022/23 season, which included a triple-hundred, to force his way into the national plans.
The batter made his international debut in 2023 against West Indies
De Zorzi made his international debut in both the Test and ODI formats in West Indies’ tour of South Africa in 2023. The batter would impress in both the formats, scoring 85 in his third Test innings and an unbeaten 119 in his fourth ODI to become a regular started for the Proteas.
 De Zorzi captained the South Africa A side against Sri Lanka in 2023 and also earned a contract at Durban’s Super Giants for the second season of the SA20. The 27-year-old consistently dedicates his runs to his mother Natasha, who raised him as a single parent.
Before the second Test against Bangladesh, de Zorzi had scored 379 runs in 7 Tests with his highest score being that of 85. While in the one-day format, the batter has scored 356 runs in 9 ODIs with the highest score of 119*.
The South African had quite a great domestic career
De Zorzi had a great domestic career as well where he featured for the Northerns side. In first-class cricket, the batter has scored 3808 runs in 70 matches at an average of 35.92 and has a highest score of 304*. Then, in List A matches, de Zorzi has scored 3160 runs in 92 matches at an average of 39.01 and has a highest score of 143.
De Zorzi also has had a decent T20 career so far, playing 71 matches and putting up a total of 1219 runs on the board. His highest score in the format so far is 106*. He will feature for the Durban’s Super Giants in the upcoming SA 20 season as well.
The South African batter can definitely turn out to become one of the most important players for the Proteas in the coming years if he continues to impress like this in every format.
