Auckland – Quinton de Kock is merely in need of some love and affection to get himself back into gear South Africa’s coach Russell Domingo reckoned this morning.
Ahead of the crucial clash with Pakistan at Eden Park on Saturday, South Africa’s wicket-keeper is under the most scrutiny following a string of poor returns at the top of the order.
De Kock has an aggregate of 27 runs from South Africa’s four Pool B matches, with a top score of 12, and with the prospect of the 2.05m Mohammed Irfan bowling to him in his near future, the worries over the 21 year left hander are growing.
“It’s a challenging time for him because he’s always been such a successful young cricketer,” Domingo said at Eden Park this morning, where the South African team held it’s first training session in bright but blustery conditions.
They checked into their hotel late last night after a long day of travel from Canberra, but most of the players, including the under-fire De Kock looked in good spirits.
De Kock made the last of his six ODI centuries in November against Australia at the SCG, but since then has suffered that ankle injury which kept him off the field for six weeks – the first long term injury of his career. De Kock wears a brace on the ankle now, but Domingo remarked the injury was no longer a concern.
“In a competition like this there’s always going to be some batter that’s looking for a little bit of form and Quinton has had such an outstanding year that the expectation from a lot of people is that every time he bats he’ll get a lot of runs. Cricket doesn’t work like that,” explained Domingo.
“But players, need a bit of love, attention and affection. Maybe he’s at that stage….I’m hoping he’s girlfriend is giving that (love) to him. I’m giving him a lot of attention. He’s an important player for us and we want to get him moving in the right direction so we are giving him as much attention as we possibly can.”
JP Duminy and Vernon Philander went through fitness tests again today, and both are expected to shape up well, though Domingo admitted the squad’s medical team were still practicing caution with the seam bowler. “We have to make sure Vernon is 100 percent ready to go because we need to be careful when it comes to hamstring strains.”
Duminy should go straight back into the starting team most likely at the expense of Farhaan Behardien. The debate over whether to replace Kyle Abbott, who’s picked up six wickets in South Africa’s last two matches with Philander – if the latter’s fit – will make for an interesting debate among the selectors.
“If there is something in the wicket there are few better bowlers in the world capable of extracting whatever movement there is than Vernon. New Zealand also seems to have offered the bowlers something, especially this venue. He is a handful, hits good areas consistently and can get a bit of nip and a bit of swing, that’s a big plus for Vernon.”
The South African team’s eyes were certainly opened by the thrilling match between the World Cup’s two host nations at Eden Park last Saturday. Players in both the New Zealand and Australian teams reckoned on a ‘slog-a-thon’ at the iconic rugby stadium where the straight boundaries are especially short. There’s plenty of evidence around Eden Park no.2, where the nets are located of the Australian batsmen’s “range hitting” ahead of that match. A shattered window from one ball deposited by George Bailey apparently, reveals how the Aussies were looking to hit long, though as it turned out that came at the expense of practicing solid technique against swing bowling.
Domingo is keen that his side don’t make the same mistake, because Pakistan – regardless of whatever controversy in their camp – certainly has the fast bowlers capable of effectively utilising such helpful conditions.
“You look at the ground and the nature thereof and think you need to get 400, but you can easily get blown out for 150 or 160 as we saw the other day. We’ll assess it on the day, make sure we get a solid start and organise it from there,” said Domingo. - The Star