Quinton de Kock's retirement rids Test cricket of a pure entertainer
30th December 2021, SuperSport Park, Centurion, Quinton de Kock strides out to the centre with South Africa staring into the abyss. In pursuit of 305, they’ve lost half their side, including their influential captain Dean Elgar, and are tottering at 130/5.
Before Day 5 began, there was hope that rain would play some part and offer the Proteas the respite they’d been craving. With each passing over, though, the horizon appears brighter (literally and metaphorically for India), while growing drearier for the hosts.
On paper, South Africa only need 175 runs to secure victory – a target that isn’t completely out of reach but seems pretty improbable on a surface playing countless tricks. That the Proteas haven’t played Test cricket since June 2021 doesn’t augur well either.
Thus, it wouldn’t have been a stretch to suggest that a South African defeat, without having met that end, seemed a foregone conclusion. Well, at least until de Kock decided to have a say in matters.
The wicket-keeper, often criticized for his devil-may-care approach in Test cricket, marks his guard and immediately stamps his authority. As has been the case with most batters, de Kock is also beaten around the off stump. He doesn’t flinch though. And when the opportunities come along, he dispatches Jasprit Bumrah for two sumptuous on-drives.
A couple of overs later, Ravichandran Ashwin is introduced into the attack. The off-spinners, for those unaware, has an excellent record against de Kock across formats. De Kock, however, signals his intentions to take Ashwin down.
He doesn’t really manage to do so but there are glimpses that de Kock is confident enough that he can, in contrast to conventional cricketing logic and wisdom, can actually pull a victory out of the fire for the Proteas.
As the minutes tick by, de Kock and Temba Bavuma look increasingly comfortable at the crease. The former, in particular, is causing a furrowed brow or two in the Indian camp. Not because of what he has produced so far, but because of what he can conjure.
A few South African supporters, who had held their breaths since Elgar’s departure, heave a sigh of relief. Among them, a handful also dare to ask – “de Kock can win this Test for us, can’t he?”
And, then, it happens. Not the kind of outcome the Proteas faithful had been longing for but one that has perhaps, rather unfortunately, defined de Kock’s Test career.
At a time when de Kock had just begun motoring and had made fans harbor aspirations of an unlikely triumph, he contrived to throw his wicket away – in a manner that was eerily resemblant of how he was dismissed in the first innings (against Shardul Thakur) and made people in the commentary box question if the shot was good enough.
Rather unsurprisingly, the hosts slipped to a convincing defeat thereafter. The hopes that de Kock had raised quickly turned into an inevitable sense of doom. More importantly, though, de Kock, who had kept the South Africans on the edge of their seats after a bit of dazzling stroke-play, had pushed them over the edge. That, though, perhaps encapsulates de Kock’s Test career completely.
He has, owing to his remarkable range of strokes, always seemed capable of rattling any cage in international cricket. de Kock has, unlike what people suggest, also been a very capable match-winner in Test cricket.
All six of his hundreds have come at a strike rate in excess of 68, which in red-ball cricket, is quite a feat. Of those, the Proteas have not gone on to win just one game. He also averages 53 and strikes at 75.43 in victories, indicating how crucial a game-breaker de Kock has been over the years.
To add context, one of his greatest essays in international cricket is a 104-run knock against Australia at Hobart. In that match, Australia scored a grand total of 246 runs across both their innings. de Kock scored 42.27% of those runs for South Africa alone and fashioned an incredible victory.
There were a few impactful knocks at home too – against England (Centurion, 2016), Pakistan (Johannesburg, 2019) and Sri Lanka (Cape Town, 2017). Each of those portrayed the sort of panache de Kock has been synonymous with and was played at junctures when South Africa found themselves under a bit of pressure.
However, such essays have been glorious aberrations, rather than the norm de Kock was capable of making it. In fact, the wicket-keeper scored two Test tons in a calendar year only once (2019) and had to wait more than two years before notching up his next Test century (against the West Indies in 2021).
In the meantime, there were useful cameos. But they weren’t the sort of efforts that de Kock was expected to provide, meaning that with his Test career winding down, many are led to believe that he actually didn’t live up to his potential.
BREAKING: #Proteas wicket-keeper batsman, Quinton de Kock has announced his retirement from Test cricket with immediate effect, citing his intentions to spend more time with his growing family.
Full statement: bit.ly/3Hp91M4 https://t.co/kVO8d1e0Ex
There could be a bit of truth to it too.
The other spin to this story, though, is that de Kock has perhaps been looked at through an Adam Gilchrist-shaped lens – a lens that has weighed several cricketers down and has only highlighted how exceptional the Australian was.
Quinton de Kock's Test numbers aren't shabby
From a statistical standpoint, de Kock hasn’t fared too badly in Test cricket. An average of 38.82, especially at a time when he had to forcefully become South Africa’s batting beacon, isn’t shabby, considering he kept wickets for longer too, after the likes of Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel and Vernon Philander retired.
To an extent, de Kock’s Test career has traversed a very similar path to MS Dhoni – another limited-overs behemoth who wasn’t as influential a batter in Test cricket but was on hand to produce some memorable knocks.
He too ended his Test career with an average of 38.09 and six centuries, squatted more times behind the stumps than he would’ve liked and left with people wanting a little more from him as a batter. As fate would have it, he, like de Kock, also bid adieu to the longest format on 30th December when no one expected him to do so.
In isolation, de Kock’s Test numbers are relatively decent, considering how the rest of the South African batting unit has fallen apart in the past couple of years. The wicket-keeper has been their highest run-scorer in Test cricket since the start of 2019.
Thus, the general perception that de Kock flattered to deceive in red-ball cricket is perhaps only because he set the bar so high in other formats. And, of course, because he showed how good he could be when things clicked into gear.
At times throughout his Test career, de Kock has brought out groans of frustration. On other occasions, he has evoked collective gasps of awe – gasps that haven’t just drawn comparisons to Gilchrist but made people wonder if they are watching one of the greatest stroke-players to have ever graced the game.
There’s simply been nothing in between for de Kock. To an extent, that has perhaps dwindled his stature when talking about the best all-format wicket-keepers of this generation. Yet, it has been the sole factor behind him establishing himself as one of the most exciting players to watch, irrespective of formats and of course, irrespective of how he performs.
There are exasperated reactions. There are sighs of disbelief. There is a lingering feeling that his Test career could have been so much more. But most tellingly, there have also been moments of pure magic – moments that tell you Test cricket will certainly be poorer without an entertainer of his ilk.
All the best to Quinny and Sasha for the start of their new journey ❤
Wishing you both loads of happiness and amazing moments with your little princess 💖
#FamilyFirst
...and offcourse Quinny will still be around to dominate and smack that white ball all over the park 👊
He will still be around in white-ball cricket though – formats where his flamboyance finds a natural habitat and his tendency to wallop at a hundred miles per hour adds a unique element to his batting.
In that environment, his penchant for pyrotechnics, which comes accompanied with a slight tinge of self-destruction, is appreciated a lot more. By the time he hangs up his boots there (which everyone hopes isn’t soon), he will definitely have accomplished plenty – all done at a breakneck speed that makes the general population dizzy.
From de Kock’s perspective, that is just how he is. He can be magnificent but he can also look ordinary. That he doesn’t fret over it and tries to enjoy each ebb and flow is illustrative of the fearlessness that is attached to his game.
It’s a pity this beautiful story won’t be witnessed in Test cricket henceforth. That, however, doesn’t mean we can’t celebrate one of the most enigmatic South African careers in recent times.