Sunday Times
TELFORD VICE, Port Elizabeth
NOT long ago, questions about Quinton de Kock focused on how prepared he was for international cricket. Now, they are concerned with how prepared SA would be for the World Cup without him.
It says plenty for SA and De Kock that the thought of him not playing in the tournament should cause the alarm it has. And that, mind, without him having been ruled out.
The ankle ligaments De Kock tore while warming up for the third day of the first test against West Indies at Centurion could take up to 12 weeks to heal. But he could also be good to go in six weeks, and the uncertainty has only added to the anxiety.
Eight weeks is what De Kock and SA’s medical staff had at their disposal from the time the injury struck to the start of World Cup, and there is optimism that eight is enough. So much so that, at this stage, surgery is not considered an option.
“We are treating him conservatively,” Jon Patricios, who is involved with De Kock’s case as the Lions’ doctor, said. “The consensus of opinion is that he has a type of sprain that does not require surgery.”
Asked for a straight answer on De Kock’s chances of recovering in time to play in the World Cup, Patricios said it was too early to tell.
“You have a better chance of assessing this kind of ankle injury after it has settled down,” Patricios said. “That decision will be made around the New Year.”
If not the knife, what will De Kock’s best hope of a speedy recovery entail?
“His leg is in a moon boot, which keeps it compressed and stable and in the optimal position to heal,” Patricios said. “He will probably also be injected with his own blood cells to promote his rehabilitation.”
If that sounds ghoulish to us, it probably does to De Kock, too. In the glare of high-profile sport, where over-reaction and hyperbole come standard, the only place the understated, uncomplicated wicketkeeper-batsman goes over the top is on the field.
“It looks like ‘Quinnie’ is taking it quite well,” Faf du Plessis said. “He’s untouchable; I don’t think too much bothers him.”
If it would help, South Africans would line up to donate a pint of their own sticky red stuff in the cause. De Kock made his T20 debut for SA just more than two years ago and he took his one-day bow almost a month later. But it is in the space of the five tests he has played since February that he has grown into a key figure for SA.
At 22 - an age he reached on the first day of the series against Windies - and 35 matches into his one-day career, De Kock is close to being considered as indispensable as AB de Villiers and Dale Steyn.
Even Du Plessis, someone who has been there and done that, has bought the De Kock T-shirt: “He’s a very important player for us for the World Cup and for our plans going forward. So it’s important that he sees this as not holiday time but as time to recover and get back on the park for SA.”
De Kock has walked out to open the innings 32 times in ODIs. He has returned with a century to his name in six of those innings, and that in conditions as contrasting as those offered in Abu Dhabi, Sydney, and at the Wanderers. Only four times has he gone past 50 and not gone on to a ton, once because the innings ended with him not out on 80. He has yet to record a duck.
Behind the stumps, he has put his trust in instinct and athleticism as much as he has in honing his skills through hours of hard work.
When De Kock arrived at international level, he had more rough edges than smooth facets. Suddenly, it was not good enough to simply smack the cover off the bad balls he had, on lesser stages, been bowled significantly more often.
But there is no stopping his kind of talent. It is too spectacular to hide under even the biggest bushel. Sooner than he had a right to, De Kock belonged.
As Hashim Amla said this week, “The challenging part (of captaincy) is that when you have younger guys you can’t expect them to perform like the guys who have gone before have performed - not immediately, anyway.
“For any new guy, you want to get the feeling you are accepted in the environment regardless of whether you score runs or not.”
De Kock represents the most compelling evidence that SA’s dressingroom is indeed that happy place. For his own sake, for the team’s and for many other South Africans’, his presence at the World Cup is more important than it seems.
Because if that dream comes true, who knows what else will ...
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