He may look baby-faced and gentle at one glance, but his cricket could not have been more different. With a bat in hand, currently there are few as destructive as Quinton de Kock has been in recent years. Though he has been making waves in international cricket for quite a while now, it is the year 2016 that could be the watershed point in his young career.
The hard-hitting wicket-keeper batsman was a prolific run scorer across all formats in this season. Though a consistent performer in limited overs cricket, he had not made a mark in the longer version of the game earlier. But he returned to the Test side this year and never looked back since.
Sticking to his natural flair for strokeplay in Tests too, he scored 589 runs in 11 innings at 65.44. This included counter-attacking centuries against the visiting England team at the Centurion and a similar innings in response to a batting collapse at Hobart, during South Africa’s tour of Australia last month. Besides, he also scored four consecutive fifties in the format.
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Comparisons have already been drawn with a certain Adam Gilchrist – quite an honour of the highest order for any wicket-keeper batsman. Incidentally, both are attacking left-handed wicket-keeper batsmen who open(ed) the batting in limited overs cricket.
Though he chose to brush off such comparisons, today De Kock is the proud recipient of the ‘ICC ODI Cricketer of the Year’. The ICC Awards announced a few days back, took into account player performances between 14 September 2015 and 20 September 2016. In the intervening period, De Kock had scored 793 runs from 16 innings at an average of 56.64, including four centuries and a fifty.
Here we look back at five of his top knocks in the 2015-16 season:
#5 103 vs India, Rajkot
De Kock has always fancied the Indian bowling, against whom he once cracked a record three consecutive hundreds in a series. The trend continued when South Africa toured India last year. In the five-match ODI series that South Africa won 3-2, he scored two more centuries.In the third ODI at Rajkot, De Kock’s 103 stood out as it helped South Africa take lead in the series. It was his fourth century in seven innings against India. An innings that saw him battle cramps and tight spells of spin bowling, De Kock played in an uncharacteristic fashion, trading flamboyance for patience.
His 118-run partnership with Faf du Plessis was crucial in a match that the Proteas won by a margin of 18 runs.
#4 109 vs India, Mumbai
In the final and deciding game of the same series at the Wankhede in Mumbai, De Kock was at the best of his free-flowing strokeplay as he scored 109, bringing up his hundred off just 78 balls. The trio of De Kock, Du Plessis and De Villiers sent the Indians on a leather hunt, each scoring a ton as South Africa posted a mammoth total of 438 and achieved its biggest win over India in terms of runs to clinch the series 3-2 – their first bilateral ODI series win in India.
Despite Du Plessis, with whom De Kock shared a 154-run partnership for the second wicket, top-scoring with 133 and De Villiers toying with the bowling to score a 61-ball 119, De Kock was named the Player of the Match for the quick start he provided to the innings. He had dominated the partnership with Du Plessis, scoring 100 out of the 154 runs.
#3 138* vs England, Bloemfontein
De Kock’s 138 against England was a valiant effort in a losing cause. Batting first after winning the toss in the first ODI, England had slammed 399 in their innings, riding on a stroke-filled 105 from Jos Buttler and quick-fire fifties from Alex Hales, Joe Root and Ben Stokes. De Kock responded to the improbable chase by bringing up his hundred off 67 balls.
Before rain eventually played spoilsport and England won by a comfortable 39 runs by D/L method, De Kock had single-handedly carried the chase on his shoulders, scoring 138 off 96 balls, and he was rightly awarded the Player of the Match despite ending up on the losing side.Once again, it was Du Plessis who provided the much-needed support at the other end, scoring 55 in a 110-run partnership for the second wicket.
#2 135 vs England, Centurion
No stranger to scoring multiple tons in a series, De Kock slammed his second hundred of the five-match series in the third match at Centurion. Only, this time it was in a winning cause. The hundred was also his fourth in six consecutive innings. Batting first, England once again piled a 300+ total.
Chasing 319 to win and faced with the prospect of giving away an unassailable lead in the series to England, who had won the first two encounters, the Proteas opening pair of De Kock and Hashim Amla came together in a 239-run match-winning opening stand. De Kock top scored with 135 and was once again adjudged the Player of the Match.
During the course of his ton, he claimed the record for the youngest batsman to 10 centuries, achieving the feat in just his 55th appearance.
#1 178 vs Australia, Centurion
De Kock capped off a fantastic year in ODIs with his highest score in the format, also the second highest by a South African – a magnificent 178 against the visiting Aussies at the Centurion. In the first of the five-match ODI series, De Kock raced away to his 11th ODI century and his third in the year, against an Aussie bowling line-up that was without the services of its leading bowlers including Mitchell Starc.
Easily one of his most free-flowing knocks as rated by himself, De Kock was in his elements on the day, combining impeccable timing and placement with some brute hitting to decimate a listless Aussie bowling attack.
He brought up his hundred in 74 balls and struck as many as 16 fours and 11 sixes in his innings. The sheer domination by De Kock that day, was underlined by the fact that when South Africa chased down the 295-run target, De Kock alone had scored more than sixty percent of it and he was the obvious choice for the Player of the Match.
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