Is there any stopping runaway De Kock?

11 February 2016 - 02:57 By Sbu Mjikeliso

Wunderkind Quinton de Kock was almost licking his lips at the prospect of taking guard at the Wanderers in tomorrow's decisive fourth one-day international against England - a pitch famed for its true pace and bounce. With the ball coming on perfectly under the Supersport Park floodlights on Tuesday night, De Kock gunned his way to a second emphatic century of the series and looks set to continue in similar vein in Johannesburg.The 23-year-old, who struggled last year, said he had focused on keeping his batting simple - something that showed in the 96 balls it took for him to get to 100.He eventually finished with 135 runs from 117 balls."I don't know what to expect at the Wanderers but when I get there I'm going to do the same things I did on Tuesday night and in Bloemfontein."I'll keep it simple and play the ball on its merit. That's it, really."That's been the key for me, especially when I've made big runs."I've tried to not play rash shots, unless we are chasing big totals. We've played on good wickets recently so we didn't need to play high-risk shots."During my bad patch I became very superstitious. But when I went to India I was playing freely; I didn't care about my superstitions."I had over 20 things - putting on the right pad before the left, I had to be sitting down, putting my helmet on before anything else. But I'm done with that now."Ahead of a crucial showdown in Johannesburg, with the Proteas still 2-1 down in the five-match series, De Kock looks primed to add a third series century. He's hard to stop when in this mood...

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