De Kock's last dance
My body tells me I’m 40, my ID says I’m 31
The Proteas’ World Cup campaign officially begins tomorrow, the 7 th of October. The Proteas take on Sri Lanka at the Arun Jaitley stadium. This may be their first game of the tournament but, it will be very vital for Proteas to start well. Something they are generally not known to do as they are mostly known as slow starters. It will be key for them to be slightly out of character by starting the tournament on a high and setting themselves up for a big tournament. The team was scheduled to play 2 warm up matches but could only play one, which they lost to New Zealand. The first one, however, was abandoned due to inclement weather. Based on Graeme Smith’s book, The Captain’s diary, warm up matches are really there for the team to acclimatise and for the guys to spend time in the middle and the bowlers to hit their straps. The defeat to New Zealand would have served its purpose, nonetheless.
This world cup, for several of our senior players, will be their last bite at the cherry as they are unlikely to still be around for the next world cup due to age. However, this is not cast in stone because age is not the only thing that matters here. With all that being said, this world cup will be Quinton de Kock’s last dance in International One Day cricket and his last bite at the cherry as well. Of course, the cherry being an ODI world Cup. Quinton de Kock’s career has been one with a number of different innings. When he made his international debut against New Zealand in 2013, coming in at 6 and scoring 18(34) and when he averaged 21.5 in his first 8 innings, very few people would have guessed that he would end up with the record that he has in ODI cricket. After watching him bat 16 innings later in his first year of ODI cricket, even fewer people would have guessed that he would be playing his last ODI game at the age of 30 and would have already retired from test cricket. This is currently the reality South African cricket fans have to come to terms with, unfortunately. Losing a 31-year-old quality cricketer will never be a nice thing for any side in the world but, one must appreciate the honesty from Quinton.
There’s always a lot of assumptions and speculations around players retiring in South African cricket and very few times have players come out and spoken. Quinton said in an interview, “It was just the feeling I was getting. In the end of my Tests, I was fighting to play. Fifty Tests was a lot and could take a toll on you. I gave it thought and chatted with people I trust. They said there’s no shame on retiring and focusing on other formats. Lots of memories in the 10-11 years. My body tells me I’m 40, my ID says I’m 31, I still mentally try to act like I am 20 all the time.” When explaining his test retirement. Furthermore, he explained his decision to walk away from One Day Cricket and said that the prospect of making money definitely played a role in him retiring. Especially with where he is in his career. He also wants some more time with his young family. With the kind of cricket that Quinton de Kock plays, one can easily be misunderstood, and this is exactly what happened to Quinton. A lot of people believed he did not care and did not put in anyeffort but hey, you do not average 40+ in ODIs and just under 40 in tests if you do not care. His instinctive game is something that many will remember him for, whether it be for the right or wrong reasons will definitely be up to the individual.
There has been a bit of unnecessary drama surrounding Quinny in the last couple of years, but I shall not be heading into that direction.
To echo the sentiments of current Proteas’ white ball coach, Rob Walter, Quinton de Kock has unfinished business as far as world cups are concerned. He has featured in a number of world cups for the Proteas and has not really shown his true mettle there. In ODI cricket, Quinton averages 45 at a strike rate of 95 and in world cups, he averages 30 at a strike rate of 86. He has never scored a ton in a world cup. All this in 17 world cup innings. These numbers will not be numbers that Quinton de Kock is happy about and the match against Sri Lanka will be a great start for him to set the tone for the team and himself. He has a decent record against Sri Lanka in this format. With this not only being his last world cup but his last one-day series, Quinton de Kock will be looking to bow out in style. He is someone the team and fans will definitely miss. His cut shot regardless of the number of fielders being put there to try and stop him from cutting, him pulling even though it is a trap, and his overall no fear batting style will always be missed.