The Proteas opener was in sublime form on Thursday, smashing a career-best at international level.
Quinton de Kock has revealed he used a borrowed bat to blast a scintillating 115 off just 49 deliveries at SuperSport Park in Centurion on Thursday night to lead the Proteas to a win in the second T20 against the West Indies.
The victory, by seven wickets, gave the South Africans a 2-0 series lead, with one match to play, at the Wanderers on Saturday.
After the West Indies had scored 221/4, the South Africans chased down their target with 15 balls remaining. Besides De Kock’s century, Ryan Rickelton was the other big contributor as he hit 77 not out off 36 balls coming in at number three.
Brevis’ bat
After the match De Kock revealed he’d left his bats at home and had to find a team-mate’s bat to open the innings.
“I don’t how to answer that question … I felt a bit stupid when I noticed earlier that the bats weren’t here,” said De Kock.
“I don’t know how I forgot. I went white before the bus was leaving [the hotel for the ground].
“I looked at one of Ricks’ bats and one of Brevi’s bats and pulled one of Brevi’s. He said it was fine, that it was a left-handed bat,” explained De Kock as he considered bats that belonged to Rickelton and Dewald Brevis.
“ … but the bat is going back to Brevi. I didn’t really enjoy it. The weight was out of place for me.”
De Kock hit six fours and 10 sixes with the bat. His 115 was his highest score at T20 level for the Proteas.
Chasing down 222
The veteran opener said the SuperSport wicket was a good one and that they had no issues batting second, chasing a big total.
“We know this wicket. We’ve chased down scores here before. It was just about assessing it up front.
“We needed a good start and Aiden [Markram] took it upon himself to have a crack up front. But he obviously got out. Then it was about picking the right bowler or right time to hit one or two boundaries, to get momentum and carry on with it.”
Asked where his innings ranked among his best, De Kock said: “The wicket was very good … I prefer working hard, being clever, street-smart. You could just bat [here tonight]. I really enjoyed it, but in T20 cricket when you have to work hard for runs it gives me more satisfaction.”
The final T20 in the series against the West Indies is in Joburg on Saturday.
