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There has been much fanfare this week with the news that Quinton de Kock has come out of international retirement and is once again available to play for South Africa, and the selectors wasted no time in picking him for the upcoming tour to Pakistan.
QdK is obviously an enormously talented cricketer, and at just 32 years old he still has some good years ahead of him, but the big question should be does he walk straight back into the starting eleven?
De Kock is very good, but since his retirement he has been replaced by a player, who in many ways is a clone. Because much like QdK, Ryan Rickelton is also a lefthanded, wicketkeeper and opening batsman.
Ryan Rickelton will need to go
The big difference between the two is experience with the returning De Kock having played a total of 247 white-ball games for the Proteas while Rickelton has played just 33.
De Kock boasts better averages than Rickelton in both ODI cricket and T20Is, but he hasn’t played for South Africa since June 2024.
It would seem grossly unfair to drop Rickelton immediately as, while he hasn’t shot the lights out in white-ball action, he has also not done badly. So Rickelton and De Kock both play in the same team, and if so, how do they fit in.
Rickelton started the year very well when he recorded a sensational double century against Pakistan at Newlands. He followed up his excellent Test form with a powerful performance for MICT in SA20, a competition where he outscored De Kock comfortably.
His form however has taken a bit of a dip since then, although, as was the case with SA20, Rickelton out-performed De Kock in the IPL.
De Kock’s numbers though are excellent – it is hard to look past a player who scored three centuries in his last 10 ODI innings for South Africa and whose T20I stats are also outstanding.
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Who will take the wicketkeeping gloves?
The question here is less about wicket-keeping duty. If both players make it into the same team, then it seems likely that De Kock would don the gloves.
Heinrich Klaasen and Rickelton played in the same team up until the former’s retirement and Rickelton did duty in the field while Klaasen operated behind the stumps.
But where do they bat? Especially when you consider that there is a third, albeit slightly less established left-handed opening batsman and wicketkeeper in the mix in the form of Lhuan-dre Pretorius.
At present Shukri Conrad has made it clear that his preferred opening combination is Rickelton and Aiden Markram – that preference was obviously stated prior to De Kock’s return from retirement.
Markram is used as an opener, but the truth is he is not one. He is a number four batsman who has been asked to open because of his quality and ability.
Especially in T20I games it is a good idea to have your most dangerous batters at the top of the order. But if De Kock is back, it could allow Markram to drop down a position or two.
The fact that Markram is a righthander is a bonus as the left/right combination makes it trickier for bowlers to settle onto a line.
But two lefties at the top of the order is better than two right-handers and ultimately that should not have too much bearing on any decision. The real win for the Proteas is to have their most destructive batters facing the most balls possible.
Quinton de Kock to complement Dewald Brevis and Lhuan-dre Pretorius
White ball cricket, especially T20 cricket, is all about hitting from the outset and while bowling options are important, the real key to success with most current set-ups is to stack the batting with powerful hitters.
A top three for the Proteas of QdK, Rickelton and Pretorius would be enough to scare most opposition. If they are followed by Markram, Brevis, Stubbs and Miller that’s an imposing unit.
To have them followed by Marco Jansen, Corbin Bosch, Keshav Maharaj and Kagiso Rabada makes for a phenomenally powerful batting unit, but it does leave them a bowler light.
The load of the fifth bowler would need to be split between Markram and Brevis which is perhaps not ideal.
It is going to be a tricky walk to navigate, but having too many world-class to choose from is a far better position to be in than having too few.
Shukri Conrad is getting plenty right at the moment, we will have to trust him to navigate this latest scenario – one thing is for certain; a happy and confident De Kock is a huge asset for South African cricket.
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The post South Africa must find a place in the ODI XI for Quinton de Kock – it will be worth it appeared first on Cricket365.
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