“You never want to clip his wings, you just want to let him fly” - Aiden Markram hails Quinton de Kock

South Africa’s stand-in skipper Aiden Markram has hailed in-form wicketkeeper-batter Quinton de Kock as a “free-spirited guy” who must be allowed to “fly”. Markram also described De Kock, who will retire from ODIs after the ongoing World Cup, as a player with a fantastic cricket brain.

De Kock has been in supreme form at the top of the order for the Proteas in the 2023 World Cup. He smashed his third hundred of the competition on Tuesday at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai as South Africa thumped Bangladesh by 149 runs.

The 30-year-old is currently the leading run-getter in the 2023 World Cup with 407 runs in five innings at an average of 81.40 and a strike rate of 114.97. Speaking after South Africa’s impressive win over Bangladesh, Markram was full of praise for De Kock.

"We all know Quinton to be the free-spirited guy that he is, but he actually has a fantastic cricket brain on him. And then you never want to clip his wings, really. You just want to let him fly. He structures it the exact way he feels (the) need, and we back that completely as a unit," he commented.

“He assesses conditions really well and communicates that to us off the field even before we have walked out to bat. It adds a lot of value in that regard," the 29-year-old added in praise of De Kock.

Apart from the Proteas opener, Heinrich Klaasen slammed 90 off 49 balls against Bangladesh, while Markram himself chipped in with 60 off 69 balls.

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“We try to take really good options and make good decisions” - Markram

South Africa have been one of the most impressive sides in the ODI World Cup so far. Barring the disappointment against the Netherlands, they have been absolutely dominant in the other games.

Asked about the secret of Proteas’ consistency, Markram kept it simple and said that it has been all about following the process.

"I know that word (process) is thrown around quite a bit, but that really is what it is. And like I have mentioned, for us as a batting unit, even as a bowling unit, we try to take really good options out there and make good decisions," the right-handed batter said.

"If those options speak to the conditions, we feel like we will be in the game. If we can do that for long periods of time and move forward each game, then we hope it puts us in a good position," Markram concluded.

The thumping win over Bangladesh lifted South Africa to second position in the points table. They have eight points and an impressive net run rate of +2.370.