Quinton de Kock announces himself in Tests with maiden century after conquering limited-overs cricket

Quinton de Kock has managed to break the shackles of poor Test form with his maiden century in the ongoing Test.

After their demoralising defeat in the third Test, which cost them the series as well as their No. 1 spot in the rankings, South Africa have been resurgent in the first two days of the fourth Test. The South African batting unit posted a challenging total of 475 on the board. To their credit, their performance comes against the bowling attack that dismissed them for a meagre 83 less than a week ago, with the exception of the injured Steven Finn (who has been replaced by the impressive Chris Woakes for the ongoing Test at Centurion). While the opening day belonged to debutant Stephen Cook and the stylish Hashim Amla, Day Two was undoubtedly Quinton de Kock’s moment of glory. FULL CRICKET SCORECARD: South Africa vs England 2015-16, 4th Test at Centurion, Day 1

The South African wicketkeeper-batsman may have established himself as the first-choice gloveman for his national team in the limited-overs formats, but de Kock had a plenty to prove in the five-day format. South Africa have been struggling to find a replacement for the legendary Mark Boucher who bid goodbye to the sport in the most painful fashion during the 2012 tour of England. Whether de Kock will fill the void left behind by Boucher in the coming months or not is yet to be seen, but he certainly seems to be the best candidate in the current generation. Alastair Cook fifty guides England to 138/2 against South Africa at stumps on Day 2 of 4th Test at Centurion

De Kock had been struggling with the bat for over a year now, and was not very effective with the wicketkeeping gloves either. The only time he had impressed as a wicketkeeper batsman in Tests was in the 2014 season during the tours of Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe. That was an eon ago, and de Kock was fast losing out on his place in the Proteas Test side.

Things worsened when he injured himself barely a day before the start of the Johannesburg Test against England, forcing him to sit out of the match that would ultimately turn out to be a nightmare for the home team. However, all was not lost for him as Dane Vilas was released for domestic duties shortly afterwards, with the selectors signalling their intent of recalling him to the side.

If de Kock’s innings on Saturday is to be taken into account, he may very well have sealed his spot in the team for the next couple series. Coming into bat at a time when a middle-order collapse was starting to ruin the hard work put in by Cook and Amla earlier in the innings, de Kock anchored the South African tail with a scintillating hundred that was laced with ambitious strokes all over the park. He stood his ground despite a couple of quick wickets in the early overs of the second day, and formed vital partnerships with Kyle Abbott and Dane Piedt to drag the South African total 25 runs short of 500.

De Kock thus top-scored for the Proteas in their first innings by remaining unbeaten on 129, having hammered 17 fours and two sixes with a strike rate of over 100. It may not be the greatest innings of the series, which has bore witness to memorable knocks like Ben Stokes’ whirlwind 258 and Amla’s 201 in the same Test at Cape Town, as well as Stephen Cook’s majestic century on debut in the ongoing match. But the defiant aggression that de Kock displayed in his latest knock is just what he needed to announce himself to the world.

His latest innings however, has elicited comparisons with wicketkeeping legend Adam Gilchrist, who himself was a specialist at No. 7 in the Australian Test side, and rallied with the middle and lower-order to produce some of his finest knocks. De Kock, having started his international career just a couple of years ago, has a long way to go before he can start comparing himself with the likes of Boucher and Gilchrist. However, with the newly-found vigour, as well as a little more consistency in terms of fitness, that day will not be very far.

(Amit Banerjee, a reporter at CricketCountry, takes keen interest in photography, travelling, technology, automobiles, food and, of course, cricket. He can be followed on Twitter via his handle @akb287)

About the Author

•