Who is Jordan Hermann? South African batter, endorsed by AB de Villiers, equals record for highest score ODI debut

Jordan Hermann etched his name in history books when the left-handed South African opener steered his team close to 350-run mark in the first ODI against Namibia on Wednesday, with a majestic hundred on debut. With the top names resting themselves in the ODI series, Hermann was given the opportunity to open the innings.

The 24-year-old made full use of the opportunity with a knock of 150 off just 126 balls, thus becoming the joint highest-individual scorer on ODI debut, along with fellow Matthew Breetzke, who scored the exact amount of runs on his ODI debut against New Zealand in 2025 in Lahore.

In the process, Hermann and Breetzke are now the only two batters to score 150 or more on their ODI debut. During his stay in the middle, Hermann smashed 17 fours and three sixes and added 190 runs for the second wicket with Tony de Zorzi (72).

After De Zorzi was dismissed, Hermann stitched 59 runs for the fourth wicket with Dewald Brevis (33). Had Hermann scored one more run, he would have created a world record. He was dismissed by Ruben Trumpelmann in the 42nd over. The Proteas managed 348/6 in 50 overs.

Jordan Hermann - All you need to know

Born in Pretoria in 2001, Jordan is a brother of Rubin Hermann, who has already played an ODI and 17 T20Is for the Proteas. In fact the Hermann brothers played for South Africa together in the T20I Tri-nation series, involving Namibia and Zimbabwe recently.

Jordan made his first-class debut for Titans in the 2021–22 CSA 4-Day Series and a List A debut for the Warriors in the CSA Provincial One-Day Challenge. His T20 debut came for Warriors in 2022 CSA T20 Challenge.

Jordan is a prominent figure in the SA20 for Sunrisers Eastern Cape from the 2022-23 season and has so far played 42 games for his 939 runs. His major highlights in SA20 came in the 2025 season when he scored 53 off 38 balls against Paarl Royals. In the second qualifier match against same team, he scored an unbeaten 69 runs off 48 balls, guiding his team to a win.

What's about AB de Villiers endorsement?

Legendary and former South African captain AB de Villiers, publicly spoke about Jordan talent during the inaugural season of SA20 in 2023 and admitted that he didn't knew his name until the tournament.

Coming after some eye-catching knocks at domestic cricket at that time, Jordan carried on the form in SA20 in 2023 with scores of 4, 59, 3, and 43 in his first four games, and caught the attention of De Villiers.

"At the top of my head, among the batters is Jordan Hermann. I didn't even know about him before the tournament, to be honest," De Villiers said, was quoted as saying by South African news outlet News24. "I heard his name once, and then I watched him bat, and I was really impressed."