3 milestones that Quinton de Kock reached during his 114 vs New Zealand at 2023 ODI World
Continuing his remarkable form, Quinton de Kock slammed another hundred during South Africa's recent win over New Zealand in Match 32 of the ongoing ICC men's ODI World Cup 2023.
After being asked to bat first in Pune, De Kock started his innings on a sedate note, scoring seven off his first 18 balls. However, he then slowly kicked on and kept the runs ticking.
Stitching up a partnership alongside Rassie van der Dussen, De Kock frustrated the Kiwi bowlers and didn't shy away from taking the aerial route from time to time.
Despite the warm conditions in the afternoon, he motored along and stitched a massive 200-run stand for the second wicket with Van der Dussen. De Kock completed his century in the 36th over in some style, flicking the ball over long-leg for a six.
De Kock scored two more boundaries after completing his ton before getting holed out in the 40th over bowled by Tim Southee. He ended up with 114 off 116 balls, which included ten boundaries and three sixes.
Apart from this, Van der Dussen batted till the 48th over and made 133 off 118 balls to help South Africa reach another huge first-innings total of 357/4. The Proteas bowlers gave no breathing space to the Kiwi batters, bundling them out for 167 to win the game by 190 runs.
Here are three milestones De Kock reached during his century against New Zealand:
#1 Third batter to hit 4 or more centuries in a single ODI World Cup campaign
Quinton de Kock is making his every appearance count in his last ODI World Cup. The southpaw has taken the tournament by storm and has already racked up four centuries.
De Kock started his campaign with a 100 against Sri Lanka before hammering 109 in the next game against Australia. He then slammed the highest individual score of the tournament (174) against Bangladesh before scoring 114 against New Zealand.
With this, the 30-year-old has become only the third player ever to score four or more centuries in a single ODI World Cup edition.
Kumar Sangakkara was the first-ever player, when he scored four back-to-back centuries in the 2015 edition before Rohit Sharma had a dream 2019 campaign, where he hammered five centuries for India.
#2 Most runs by a South African player in a single ODI World Cup campaign
Piling up runs for fun, the flamboyant left-hander has so far amassed 545 runs at an immaculate average of 77.85 and at a strike rate of 112.60 in just seven games.
De Kock's 545 runs are now the most any South African player has scored in a single ODI World Cup campaign. Previously, Jacques Kallis' 485 runs in the 2007 edition were on top of the list.
#3 Most runs by a wicket-keeper in a single ODI World Cup campaign
Several world-class wicketkeepers have graced the prestigious tournament for decades. However, De Kock has now surpassed everyone in terms of run-scoring, as his 575 runs in the ongoing 2023 edition are the most any wicketkeeper has scored in a single edition.
Sri Lankan legend Kumar Sangakkara previously held the record when he mustered 541 runs at the 2015 ODI World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.
Apart from this, no other wicket-keeper has struck more sixes in ODI World Cup history than De Kock, who has now hit 22 maximums for South Africa. With his three sixes on Wednesday, the southpaw has eclipsed Adam Gilchrist's 19 sixes in the quadrennial tournament.