De Kock’s determination galvanising Proteas teammates: Van der Dussen

Quinton de Kock is giving every ounce of himself to South Africa’s World Cup campaign in a way that has surprised his teammates, but has also had a galvanising effect on the squad as a whole.

De Kock registered his fourth hundred of the tournament in the Proteas 190-run victory over New Zealand at the MCA Stadium on Wednesday night and in the process, became the first South African to score more than 500 runs in a single World Cup tournament.

De Kock, the 2023 World Cup's leading run-scorer with 545, announced at the squad’s unveiling in September that the competition would be his last in the 50-over format, and based on his output in the last few weeks, he is desperate to go out on a high.

“He has a determination about him that I haven’t seen in a very long time,” said Rassie van der Dussen. “He is ploughing back into the team in all aspects; at the bowling meetings and at the batting meetings. Being one of the senior guys, everyone really feeds off him.”

The pair shared a partnership of 200 for the second wicket that helped set up another substantial total of 357/4. De Kock scored 114, an innings that included 10 fours and three sixes off 116 balls. While his final strike rate was close to a run a ball, it did take him 62 deliveries to register 50, an indication of just how difficult New Zealand made it in the first half of the South African innings.

“They bowled very well up front; [Tim] Southee and [Trent] Boult are experienced and very skilled bowlers. [Mitchell] Santner is a guy who has some of the best control in the world. They weren’t giving us much and we had to fight through that early period,” Van der Dussen said.

He found the going difficult too, and relied heavily on De Kock’s advice.

“He really guided me through my innings today. At times I was under pressure; I was asking him about a few options, and to soundboard with him in the middle — he is so cool and calm and thinks so clearly. It was great to bat with him.”

The loss of Matt Henry to a hamstring injury, the ball getting softer and bowlers tiring in the warm conditions, allowed South Africa to again successfully engage the accelerator from the 30th over onwards.

“'Quinny' and I were talking about 300 to 320 maybe, if it went to plan. But we’ve seen so many times what our middle order can do when they get a platform, and luckily we gave it to them again and they got us to [357].”

Actually Van der Dussen, who was dismissed at the start of the 48th over, did a fairly decent “finishing” job himself, scoring his last 83 runs off only 57 balls. He struck five of South Africa's 14 boundaries in the last 10 overs, a period in which they scored 119 runs.

While he was named player of the match for his 133, the role De Kock played in getting him through the first half of his innings, won’t be forgotten.

“He’s been brilliant in the last few weeks. He’s not all talk, he does it out on the field and that is really inspirational for us,” Van der Dussen said.