5 Players who can help South Africa win the World Cup 2019
South African cricket has produced quite a lot of legendary cricketers over time like Allan Donald, Jacques Kallis, Shaun Pollock, AB de Villiers, just to name a few. The team has performed consistently well over the years and in almost every world cup, they have been hailed as one of the best contenders to win the title. But, for whatever reason, they have not been able to win a single knockout game (until their Quarter-final win over Sri Lanka in 2015), let alone win the World Cup.
The 2019 World Cup presents before them another opportunity to lose the 'chokers' tag. Though AB de Villiers's retirement will definitely impact the team's performance, they still have got the players who have the capability to win the trophy for them.
Here, in this article, we will take a look at five such players who can help South Africa win this World Cup.
#1 Quinton de Kock
Quinton de Kock is one of the finest wicketkeeper-batsman of the current generation. His fearless striking and handy glove-work have already earned him comparisons to the greats of the game like Adam Gilchrist and Mark Boucher. He has been devastating against the best of attacks all over the world.
De Kock started his one-day international career at an early age of 20, and it took a very short span of time for him to showcase his humongous talent to the cricketing world. In less than a year since his debut, he smashed three consecutive centuries against India - a shared world record then, before it was bettered by Kumar Sangakkara. Since then he has been an integral part of the South African batting line-up.
De Kock has 4249 runs in 101 ODIs with a phenomenal average of 44.26 and at a strike rate of 94.80. He has 13 centuries and 18 half-centuries against his name with the best score of 178.
Though he has had issues with spinners on turning tracks, England pitches and conditions will provide him with the opportunity to go after the bowlers at the start of the innings, setting a big platform for hitters like David Miller to go berserk in the death overs.