De Kock leads SA to victory

Quinton de Kock's brilliance won the second one-day international for the Proteas against India at Kingsmead yesterday, but it also almost cost them the game.

De Kock's bruising 106 was the centrepiece of South Africa's total of 280/6, which proved enough to clinch victory by 134 runs and with it the series honours for AB de Villiers' team.

But De Kock then did the wrong thing by doing the right thing, and spectacularly so.

The rain that reduced the innings to 49 overs was falling again as Vernon Philander steamed in to bowl the fifth ball of the 20th over - which needed to be completed to constitute a match.

The delivery pitched on a length and seamed away from MS Dhoni, who duly edged his drive. Behind the stumps, De Kock dived long, low and one-handed to his right to catch a ball that had almost passed him when it lodged in his glove.

It was a wonderful catch, but the South Africans barely celebrated and De Kock himself seemed to utter an epithet.

The anxiety was palpable because Dhoni's dismissal had slowed the game down dangerously. Would the next man in, Ravindra Jadeja, be able to delay taking guard enough for the umpires to halt proceedings and perhaps prevent a result being reached?

Jadeja took his own sweet time getting to the middle - Dhoni had long since loped back up the dressing room stairs when his replacement stepped onto the field - but happily for the South Africans play was not interrupted.

Instead, the rain stopped and SA surged to triumph by dismissing India for 146 in 35.1 overs.

Even by the standards of De Kock's storied young life, yesterday was a big day. A week away from his 21st birthday and having played only 15 ODIs, he is already in the same league as Hashim Amla and Herschelle Gibbs.

De Kock's 135 at the Wanderers on Thursday helped the Proteas win the first match of the series by 141 runs. Yesterday he was only the third South African to score centuries in consecutive ODI innings.

Amla did so against Zimbabwe in 2010, while Gibbs reeled off three in succession against Bangladesh, India and Kenya in 2002.

Given the wet outfield and slow pitch, De Kock wasn't able to deliver as emphatic an innings as he did on Thursday. Instead, he paced his innings impressively.

He smashed three boundaries off nine balls to pass 30. But he was content with just three fours in his second 50.

At the Wanderers, De Kock and Amla shared 152 for the first wicket. Yesterday, they upped the ante with a stand of 194. Amla's contribution was a seamless 100.

SA's innings fell away after the centurions were dismissed: they lost four wickets for 22 runs in the last 5.2 overs of their innings.

With Dale Steyn in fiery form for his haul of 3/17 and Lonwabo Tsotsobe staying on the straight and narrow for his 4/25, there was no way out of trouble for the visitors.