The new David Warner? Why Brevis' path to new Proteas coaches' teams might lie in T20s

Dewald Brevis will be one of the youngsters at the heart of the Proteas' construction project towards success at the 2027 World Cup and Test revival, but his path might have to be an unorthodox, David Warner-like one.

Enoch Nkwe, Cricket South Africa's (CSA) director of cricket, on Monday gleefully admitted that the 19-year-old batting prodigy has already sprung up prominently in conversations with both Shukri Conrad and Rob Walter, the men who've been appointed as the national team's red-ball and white-ball coaches respectively.

However, he also intimated that Brevis' already substantial exposure to various T20 franchise leagues might be a more productive way of preparing him - and possibly other promising age-group exponents - for international cricket, ostensibly because the domestic system either doesn't provide the level of competition required nor remuneration.

It's a strategy that famously worked for Australian star David Warner, who made his international T20 debut against South Africa in early 2009 before making his first-class debut, entrenched his reputation in the format and made a successful switch to Test cricket two years later.  

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"There are a lot of noises around Dewald and we know how good he is, we're seeing it again in the SA20 as well," said Nkwe.

"He's played some good cricket and he's been particularly consistent in T20s. One theme that stood out in the recruitment process was that the respective formats are quite close to each other. They're not far apart.

"The reality with our youngsters moving forward is that [they] might have to do the almost David Warner-like approach, where the transition phase