Batting through pain barrier
DE KOCK: KEEPER MAKES GRITTY 90
McKenzie in awe of pain-racked star as top order struggles.
Hamilton
Wicketkeeper Quinton de Kock batted through the pain of a damaged finger to bolster South Africa with a defiant 90 as the deciding Test against New Zealand was evenly poised at the end of day two in Hamilton yesterday.
In the rain-disrupted Test, the injured De Kock was the star in the deciding Test with South Africa 1-0 up and New Zealand needing a win to draw the series.
De Kock, playing with damaged ligaments in his right index finger, went to the middle with South Africa struggling on 148/5 and he held the innings together while the bottom half of the batting order added a further 166.
South African batting coach Neil McKenzie described De Kock as “a unique player” who needed painkillers to get through the day.
“We’re threatening to get bowled out for around 200 and he comes in and gets a really quality 90,” McKenzie said.
“There’s a few tablets, anti-anti-inflammatories and that sort of stuff but Quinton doesn’t mind, he just gets on with it.
“But I definitely saw he was very uncomfortable.”
Just as De Kock’s 91 in the first innings in Wellington set South Africa up for an eight-wicket victory, he again tormented New Zealand with his trouble-free approach.
His 90 came off only 118 balls, highlighting why captain Faf du Plessis was determined to have him play despite the wicketkeeper-batsman’s injury.
He hit 11 fours and two huge sixes, one off New Zealand’s bestperforming bowler Matt Henry and one off Jeetan Patel, as he dominated the off-spinner who had claimed his wicket cheaply in the drawn first Test.
But 10 runs short of his century he played across the line to Neil Wagner and was trapped in front. –