• Making way for De Kock

    South Africa must find a place for Quinton de Kock in their best T20 team despite beating England without him.

    The Proteas have been quite dominant in their last five games against England. First they came back from 2-0 down in the ODI series to triumph 3-2 and now they have won both T20 internationals, which will give them a lot of confidence.

    All the luck went their way on Sunday but it was still a really good performance. They fielded well and looked very enthusiastic. There was a buzz among the players which I feel has been lacking of late.

    The side looks very well balanced and AB de Villiers opening the batting makes all the difference. He certainly has the ability to take the game away from the opposition in the first six overs when there are fielding restrictions and having him at the top of the order makes sense.

    However, while I understand that De Kock was rested and missed the series, they have to find a way to include him in the team against Australia and at the T20 World Cup.

    While Hashim Amla could possibly be less effective in Indian conditions where the ball doesn’t come on to the bat as nicely as it does in South Africa, he did well in the two games they played. His innings on Sunday was underrated because all the focus was on the destruction De Villiers caused, but Amla’s unbeaten 69 came off 38 balls for a strike-rate of more than 180.

    I would keep Amla in the side.

    However, I think De Kock must absolutely play in South Africa’s best T20 side. He is as good a batsman, if not better than David Miller and Rilee Rossouw so I would pick him ahead of one of those two. He would then obviously take the wicketkeeping gloves from De Villiers, who I don’t want to see keep wicket in the shortest format because your fingers takes quite a pounding which can lead to injury.

    Besides, De Kock is a better keeper anyway.

    Post by

    Graeme Pollock