South Africa vs England 2017: 2nd Test day 1, 5 talking points

#2 The de Kock promotion and partnership with Amla

Amla grew in confidence in the company of de Kock but fell soon after the keeper departed

South Africa sprung a surprise when they pushed Quinton de Kock to no.4 in the batting order, ahead of Faf du Plessis and Temba Bavuma. The wicket-keeper batsman had been used at no.7 in Tests but just before the Trent Bridge Test, he had expressed his desire to bat higher up the order in an interview with The Cricketer.

"Obviously, I would like to bat a little bit higher, but I look at the team first. I’ve never really batted higher in Test cricket. In four-day cricket, I have opened the batting but I didn’t keep, now I am keeping, it doesn’t help. I could end up keeping for 180 overs then have to go and open. I still end up scoring runs on top of it – I’m going to be one of the fitter guys in the cricketing world, if not the fittest guy in cricket. It’s a large workload on me, we’ll have to see how things go," he had revealed in that interview.

The Proteas think-tank seems to have taken that into consideration as they pushed the keeper-batsman up the order. The move paid rich dividends as once again de Kock counter-attacked, bringing up his half-century from a mere 59 balls. He was a joy to watch and exquisite with his shot selection, helping Amla get out of a rut as well. The duo put on 113 in quick time before de Kock slashed at a Broad delivery to gift Cook a catch at first slip on 68.