With Proteas coach Russell Domingo knowing and acknowledging his future in his current position is out of his hands‚ the least he knows he can do is hedge his bets on players who can come through for him.
One of them is wicketkeeper/batsman Quinton de Kock.
Having swept the stage at the Cricket South Africa awards on Saturday night in Kyalami‚ the 24-year-old has a point to prove, according to his head coach Domingo.
Having had an under-whelming 2015 Cricket World Cup in Australia after his unexpectedly quick recovery from an ankle injury‚ next month's Champions Trophy could be the perfect stage for De Kock to write himself into folklore.
- Domingo quite keen to hang on to his Proteas coaching jobRussell Domingo may not have said it in as many words‚ but he still seems keen on continuing in his current role as Proteas coach.
“He's had a fantastic year and he has something like 12 hundreds in 65 matches (79) and that's a fantastic return‚" Domingo said.
"But I know Quinton is desperate to do well in one of these ICC events.
"He'll be the first to admit that he didn't do well in the previous 50-over World Cup and didn't meet the expectations placed on him.
"He's got a point to prove in these types of events.”
Players being out of form would have concerned Domingo but he had a different way of looking at things.
- Domingo selects ODI captain De Villiers despite recurring back injuryProteas selectors and coach Russell Domingo have picked ODI captain AB de Villiers despite a recurring back injury that is threatening to rule him out of the three-match tour to the UK next month and the Champions Trophy in June.
Hashim Amla had a welcome return to run-scoring with two hundreds for his Indian Premier League franchise while Faf du Plessis and AB de Villiers had indifferent seasons for Rising Pune Supergiants and Royal Challengers Bangalore respectively.
With the Proteas known for not rocking up at ICC events‚ Domingo said his charges could have the perfect excuse of finding form when it really matters.
After all‚ the Proteas have to make up for their mortifying World Cup semi-final loss to New Zealand where for a change‚ the Proteas didn't choke.
The lessons from that Auckland thriller are still available for Domingo to apply when they navigate India‚ Sri Lanka and Pakistan in their group.
- Domingo still in the dark about his future as Proteas coachRussell Domingo is in the dark about his future as South Africa’s coach‚ less than five months before his contract expires.
“We can take a lot of comfort from the fact in a lot of our bi-lateral series‚ we've delivered in different conditions in different situations.
"We beat India at a packed Mumbai‚ we beat New Zealand at a noisy Auckland and we've beaten England at home in a must-win game at the end of a series.
"We can take comfort from how we went about winning those games and there are things we'll need to employ in those games because we ticked a lot of boxes and did a lot of things correctly in those matches‚” Domingo said.
- Domingo happy with SA's bowling and fielding‚ but batting needs workSouth Africa completed a hat-trick of one-day series wins at Eden Park on Saturday and reclaimed the No. 1 ranking.
“We've learnt a lot from those matches and I know I'm going into tournament at ease because the team has been under pressure situations in the last year and a half and they've come through them.
"We don't need to do things differently.
"We just need to focus on what we've done in the past period and try to implement some of those things.”
- TMG Digital/TMG Sport
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