Counting on Quinton, deputising for De Kock

“Hopefully I can keep riding the wave.” - Heinrich Klaasen, who scored 51 and 123 at a strike rate of 145 in this week’s warm-up games.

Telford Vice | Palermo, Sicily

IT isn’t often that a scorecard names anyone, much less Quinton de Kock, at No. 16. Just as rare is Anrich Nortjé, Lizaad Williams, Lungi Ngidi and Marco Jansen being listed to bat ahead of him, and Tabraiz Shamsi one place behind.

It’s also unusual that, when he’s in a South Africa shirt, De Kock isn’t the designated wicketkeeper. Less few and far between, though noteworthy, are matches when he isn’t in the side despite being part of the squad.

But all of the above, whether outlandish, rare or merely unusual, was true of the South Africans’ first two matches of their tour of England this week, both of them white-ball games against the England Lions.

In Taunton on Tuesday, De Kock was No. 16 in the line-up in what amounted to a practice match involving all 17 of the visitors’ players; 11 of them batting and 11 fielding. Kyle Verreynne deputised for him by opening the batting with Janneman Malan and then keeping wicket. In Worcester on Thursday, in a standard 50-over game, De Kock wasn’t in the XI. Malan and Reeza Hendricks opened and Heinrich Klaasen — who had played as a batter only on Tuesday — wore the gloves and pads.

It was all a little odd considering De Kock has been behind the stumps in 243 of his 247 internationals across the formats. And because he’s missed less than a quarter of the matches — 99 of 346 — South Africa have played since he made his debut in a T20I against New Zealand at Kingsmead in December 2021.

Team management attributed De Kock’s absence to a bruised finger and said he had been rested as a precaution. So he is set, niggle permitting, to go into the ODI series that starts in Durham on Tuesday without having picked up a pair of wicketkeeping gloves in anger for more than three weeks and a bat for exactly a month.

That’s not much of a gamble on a player whose game is so grooved and grounded. De Kock will be trusted, justifiably, to resume batting the way he has in his last 15 ODI innings, in which he has scored three centuries and five 50s. But, in his 30th year, having retired from Tests in December and become a father in January, his priorities are shifting. Even though he has committed himself to South Africa’s foreseeable white-ball future, thoughts will turn to what happens when he goes fishing fulltime.

On this week’s evidence, there is no immediate cause for alarm. On Tuesday, Malan stood firm through five partnerships for his 103. Two days later, Klaasen — who had made a 35-ball 51 batting at No. 7 in Taunton — hammered 123 off 85 balls at No. 5. Verreynne is the straightest swap for De Kock as a serious batter who keeps, even though he has opened only twice in his 39 list A innings. But De Kock’s attributes are useful wherever they present themselves, and it can’t hurt to have two other confirmed ’keepers around.

“Hopefully I can keep riding the wave,” Klaasen, whose strike rate in the two games was 145, told a press conference on Thursday. He conceded that his innings in Worcester might have been cut short by a run out — “I think it was out; I need to buy the umpire a beer” — but was grateful for the support given him by Andile Phehlukwayo in his 67, which helped fuel a stand of 149 that flew off 99 deliveries. The partnership started after the visitors had slumped to 167/5 in the 30th over. “He took a lot of pressure off me when I got into an awkward stage of the innings,” Klaasen said. “He told me to just get to my hundred and he will take care of the rest, which he did.”

Klaasen and Phehlukwayo took their team into the 47th over together, and powered them to a total of 360/7. Keshav Maharaj had Will Smeed stumped and bowled Sam Hain in the first over of the Lions’ reply and without a run on the board, and they were dismissed for 253 in 38.2 overs. Things went better for the home side on Tuesday, when Smeed’s 56-ball 90 was one of three efforts of more than 50 in their 321/4, which overhauled the visitors’ 318/6 with 12.5 overs to spare.

The South Africans’ bowling has been less convincing, with no-one claiming more than three wickets across the two games and only Ngidi keeping the damage down to less than a run a ball.

But their compatriots know they can bank on the bowlers to bounce back once they get down to business in Durham on Tuesday. And on De Kock, if he’s passed fit to play, to do what he does almost as impressively as he catches fish.

First published by Cricbuzz.