This is the freest knock I have ever played: De Kock
Oct 1, 2016 at 3:37 PM
It was a must do situation for Quinton de Kock who fired the first shot at Australian team just a day before the start of the first ODI. A failure in doing so would have been an invitation to critics as they take no time to fire back at you if you fail but a confident Q De Kock did it. He went to score ferocious 178 runs off just 113 balls in the first ODI which was enough to blow away the sledge masters Australians in the series opener “It was the freest [flowing] knock that I’ve played, but I’ve played a couple of other knocks that I’ve enjoyed more, where I’ve had to work hard for the runs.
“Those are the type of knocks that I enjoy. I had to work hard for the runs today, but it was just my day I guess. The wicket was quite nice to play on, it allowed me to play my natural game. Hopefully, there will be a couple more wickets like that in the series. Then we can have some more fun.” said De Kock.
With teaching passing day and each innings, De Kock’s level of cricket is touching an extra mile, yesterday’s innings were one of the proof. He played so easily and tore apart the Aussie line up. At once it looked like he may get his name registered in the list of 200 runs club but fell short by 22 runs. Surely, this innings would have increased his confidence manifolds and was a perfect one by him to fire a second shot at Aussies.
This loss added to the woes of the losing captain Steve Smith, who is going through a rough phase as after being whitewashed in the Test series in Sri Lanka he pulled out of ODI and T20I series that followed. His received mixed reactions for that, it has not been a good start for him to this series as well but he will look to bounce back as we know that Australia is still one of the best-limited overs team.
“We got a nice wicket to bat on and we gave some opportunities away. We got a lot of starts and nobody was able to go on and get a big score like Quinton de Kock did. So going forward it’s the responsibility of one of our top four to post a big total, and if we do that then the team total is going to be big as well,” said the losing captain Steve Smith.
South Africa will take on Australia in the second ODI tomorrow at New Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg.