Clever De Kock reads conditions better to propel Proteas

Quinton de Kock’s match intelligence has long been valued by teammates and it played a significant part in him delivering a match-winning performance for the Proteas against England on Friday. 

De Kock scored 65, creating a critical advantage for his side in the power play, which ultimately saw them claim a seven-run victory. De Kock used all his nous and experience, particularly his understanding of the wind and how conditions differed at the Daren Sammy International Stadium from night to day. 

South Africa made 163/6, a total that skipper Aiden Markram felt was 20 runs short of par. De Kock didn’t share that sentiment. “The wicket looks beautiful at night and plays much differently, but in the day 160-170 is a winning score,” said De Kock.

“I don’t know if the rest of the guys knew. But I’ve played here in the Caribbean League and had a fair sense of what a par score is.” 

Most pundits, who’d seen England chase down 181 with 15 balls to spare against the West Indies at the same venue two nights earlier, had misread the pitch. It is a high-scoring venue, but more so for night matches there. “Maybe the lights and the dew help the ball to skid on, which makes batting better,” said De Kock.

That is why he attacked the power play, taking down England’s kingpin Jofra Archer in his first over — the fourth of the match — for 21 runs, using the wind in the process to propel South Africa to 63/0 after six overs. That was 22 runs better than England managed.

“The wind is a big factor especially when you open the batting and (in the Power play) there are only two guys out, so you’ve got to use the wind as much as you can. Don’t fight it, try to use it. I think it will be like that for the rest of the World Cup, it is a big factor.”

The breeze, which De Kock, judged blew at 40 to 50km/h, added to the difficulty and thus the majesty of skipper Aiden Markram’s excellent catch to dismiss Harry Brook in the final over. De Kock described it as one of the match’s defining moments. 

“TV does not do it justice. From the angle of the wicket, there is a massive left to right wind (from my direction), so the ball is getting pushed and he turned on the inside. The ball is always moving towards the boundary.”

Markram completed the catch with a full-length dive, ending Brook’s excellent innings of 53, which threatened to take the match away from South Africa, whose bowlers had done an excellent job in controlling England’s bowling batting line-up for the first 14 overs of their innings. 

“I’m just grateful it stuck,” Markram said modestly. “As captain your mind sometimes races, and you can drift in the field, I’m just happy to hold onto it. It made a big difference.”

As they did against the US on Wednesday, the Proteas bowlers let England back into the contest in the 15th over, when Kagiso Rabada conceded 18 runs. That was followed by Anrich Nortjé going for 13 in the next, and then Ottneil Baartman getting hammered for 21 runs in the 17th over, in which he bowled five full tosses. 

The plan said Markram was to bowl yorkers, but that stiff breeze which had helped De Kock’s batting, hindered Baartman, pushing the ball towards the batters and causing him to miss his mark. 

“It was nerve-racking in those overs — the plans I felt were OK, the execution let us down, but that is part of the game,” said the Proteas captain.

“Getting into those last three overs, with the odds looking like they were stacked heavily against us, the bowlers hung in there, had really good plans, showed a lot of skill and ultimately got the execution right.” 

The Proteas head back to Antigua to face the West Indies in their final pool match in the Super Eights. It's a match they must win, after the Windies trounced the US on Saturday night, significantly boosting their net run rate in the process. It leaves the Proteas with a scenario where should they lose their first match in the tournament, they will be eliminated.