Quinton de Kock is a wicketkeeper-batter who is ready to retire, and South Africa’s stand-in captain Aiden Markram feels that he should be given the freedom to “fly.”
Quinton de Kock, the soon-to-be-retired wicketkeeper-batter, is a “free-spirited guy,” in the opinion of South Africa’s acting captain Aiden Markram, who feels he should be given the opportunity “to fly.” The Proteas secured a commanding 149-run victory on Tuesday as the explosive left-hander struck 174 off 140 balls, his third century in five innings, to lead South Africa to 382/5 against Bangladesh. In the last ten overs, South Africa amassed 144 runs, led by centuries from De Kock, Heinrich Klaasen (90; 49b), and Markram (60; 69b).
“We all know Quinton to be the free-spirited guy that he is, but in the post-match interview, Markram told reporters that he actually had a fantastic cricket brain on him.”
With 407 runs, De Kock has surpassed Virat Kohli (354) to grab the lead in run scoring. Earlier, he had declared he will retire from the ODI format following the World Cup.
“After that, you really shouldn’t cut off his wings. All you want to do is let him go. We fully support him as a team, and he constructs it exactly the way he perceives (the) necessity,” Markram continued.
Markram did not stop praising De Kock, saying, “He judges the situation extremely well and lets us know off the pitch, even before we step out to bat. In that sense, it greatly enhances value.” Markram said taking good decisions on the field has also been a driving force behind the team’s success.
“I realise the word ‘process’ is used a lot, but that is exactly what it is. Additionally, as I’ve already shown, we as a batting and bowling team strive to choose wisely and take advantage of excellent opportunities, Markram added.
We believe that we will participate in the game if those solutions address the requirements. He continued, “We hope it puts us in a strong position if we can do that for extended periods of time and advance each game.
South Africa’s campaign thus far has probably been as impressive as India’s or even New Zealand’s, two of the strongest sides the Proteas have yet to face, if their defeat to the Netherlands batting second is put aside as a hiccup in the grand scheme of things.
“I suppose that playing good cricket leads to peaking. And if we approach every game with the intention of playing excellent cricket, we can see where it gets us,” added Markram, who replaced Temba Bavuma for the second straight game.
However, because there hasn’t been a better method, we have placed a lot of focus on the items and procedures that we have been doing successfully.
