Times Media
TELFORD VICE, Auckland
“YOU’VE caught the World Cup,” somebody should have said to Quinton de Kock in the second over of SA’s World Cup quarter-final against Sri Lanka at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Wednesday, even if the original version of that story is more fiction than fact.
Steve Waugh did not say the opposite to Herschelle Gibbs when the latter prematurely tossed a catch skyward in celebration during SA’s Super Six match against Australia at Headingley in the 1999 World Cup. Instead of into the heavens, the ball dribbled to earth.
Waugh, who had taken guard with Australia 48/3 chasing 272, was 56 not out when Gibbs botched the catch. He was 120 not out when they won by five wickets.
The sting in the tale has overshadowed considerations like the truth. But, when De Kock dived to take, almost drop, then take again the catch that removed Kusal Perera and struck the first blow in SA’s demolition of Sri Lanka’s respected batting line-up on Wednesday, a sidelong reference to the Waugh story would have been apt.
That said, who knew then that SA would dismiss the Lankans for 133? And who would have put money on De Kock breaking out of the slump that limited his contribution to 53 runs in six innings in a World Cup quarter-final?
De Kock scored an undefeated 78, 48 of them in boundaries. He swung from the heels and led with his hips confidently and emphatically. His eyes seared with focus. His hands moved decisively. Gone was the tentative edger who, just an innings previously, would have been better served wearing a life jacket than a pair of pads.
With SA chasing so small a target De Kock was under minimal pressure. But he is back, and with a bang. And just in time for the semi-finals at Eden Park in Auckland on Tuesday, when all the boundaries - not only the short straight fences - will be in danger of being breached by his broadsword bat.
“We all go through patches like he did in this tournament,” AB de Villiers said. “We’ve all been in dark spaces.
“A lot of credit goes to the selectors and the coach, and the guys who kept backing him. I think they must have been tempted a few times to let him go and maybe for me to take the (wicketkeeping) gloves, but it was a great call from them to stick with him.
“He had a fantastic game, and took a couple of crucial catches. You know what can happen when you let catches go down. It can turn a game upside down, and he hung onto them today.
“And the way he batted with confidence was amazing. At that age (22) to go through a patch like he has been going through, to come out there in a quarter-finals at the World Cup with confidence, shows what kind of player he is and what he can achieve in his career.”
De Kock is that rarest of SA cricketers: he does more than he thinks. As this World Cup rolls on, SA need to learn that it’s all about that fact - no fiction.
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