Reeza Hendricks gave the Proteas 100 reasons to stick with him for the rest of their tour of Sri Lanka on Sunday.
After scoring a fifty in a warm-up ahead of the first ODI, the 28-year-old was still overlooked for selection in the first two 50-over matches.
But with a century on debut in the third ODI in Kandy, the Kimberley star helped South Africa to a 78-run win to take an unassailable 3-0 lead in the series.
His 102 off just 89 balls was the fastest ton scored by a debutant in ODI history.
Of his feat, he says: “With the class in South Africa, it is quite difficult to break through. So fortunately I got the opportunity and managed to score some runs.”