It was a lekker innings, says de Kock

Published Sep 30, 2016

Share

Centurion - “Ja, it was lekker,” was Quinton de Kock’s succinct summation of his remarkable century that saw South Africa storm to a six-wicket win in the first Momentum One-Day International against Australia in Centurion on Friday night.

De Kock scored a sensational century as South Africa comfortably chased down Australia’s target of 295 with 82 balls to spare.

“It was quite enjoyable. The wicket was nice, it allowed me to play my natural game. It was the most free knock that I’ve played. I’ve played other knocks, where I’ve had to work harder for runs, and I enjoy those more. “

De Kock scored 178, the second highest score by a South African player behind Gary Kirsten’s 188* not in the 1996 World Cup against the UAE. He needed just 113 balls, hitting 16 fours and 11 sixes, as he manhandled an inexperienced Australian attack.

“We started off quite poorly with the ball, we gave him a few freebies to get away,” said Australia’s captain Steve Smith. “From there he got into rhythm. It felt at one stage like every ball was going to the boundary. It was one hell of an innings.”

De Kock shared partnerships of 145 for the first wicket with Rilee Rossouw, who struck the ball powerfully in an innings of 63 off just 45 balls, and 123 for the second wicket with Faf Du Plessis. The South African captain’s contribution was a mere 26.

De Kock said there was no trepidation about chasing a big score in the absence of AB de Villiers - who will undergo surgery next week on his left elbow - and Hashim Amla who missed Friday’s game with a bout of flu. “The guys are confident enough to know they can take away games as well. AB and Hash make it seem a lot easier than other guys, but we have full confidence in each other.”

In the process De Kock surpassed Herschelle Gibbs’ epic innings of 175 made in the ‘439 Game’ for the highest score by a South African against Australia. De Kock admitted he didn’t even watch the 2006 match, widely regarded as the greatest ODI ever played. “I was at a club game. I didn’t watch the game, heard about it, and then just watched the highlights.”

He explained that there wasn’t a specific plan to target the inexperienced Australian attack, missing stalwarts like Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood. “Rilee and I are naturally aggressive batters. The wicket helped a lot, it became extremely nice to bat on. It was like two totally different pitches from the afternoon to the evening,” said De Kock.

He and the rest of the South African team will be keen to build on Friday’s success when they face the world champions at the Wanderers on Sunday. De Kock expects the Australians to be better. “We don’t get games like these often against Australia. We’ll enjoy it, but there’s not a lot of time until Sunday, and we know they always have something up their sleeves,” he added.

Independent Media

Related Topics: