High World Cup hopes for De Kock

Proteas captain Faf du Plessis believes that explosive opener Quinton de Kock will be one of the key players for SA at the World Cup in England.

The Proteas open the tournament against hosts England at the Oval in London on May 30 and Du Plessis is hoping De Kock‚ who also doubles up as wicketkeeper‚ takes his current form to the Indian Premier League (IPL) and the World Cup tournament.

“Runs are important for any player and as long as he is scoring runs, it is good for all of us as he is going to be a big factor at the World Cup‚” he said.

Du Plessis was speaking as the Proteas prepared to take on Sri Lanka in the second ODI in Centurion on Wednesday.

SA are looking to take their lead to 2-0.

The Proteas started their last ODI series at home before travelling to the tournament with a comprehensive eightwicket win over Sri Lanka on Sunday in Johannesburg, with De Kock scoring 81 runs off 72.

“There is still a long time to go before the tournament, but the currency is runs and hopefully he will have a good IPL and transform that to the World Cup‚” Du Plessis said.

“If you have three of the most senior men in the team firing‚ you will have a chance of a good tournament.”

Du Plessis himself started the series against Sri Lanka with a match-winning knock of 112 off 114 to register his 15th ODI century.

“The last two years have been really good to me in white-ball cricket because there has been consistency in my game‚” the skipper said.

“I have been performing different roles of batting at three and at four to challenge myself more to see what suits the team best and we will continue exploring with that a bit.

“What Rassie [Van der Dussen] brings to the team is like myself – he can shift gears and bat at different positions.

“It is nice to have guys who can bat different roles in our batting lineup.

“We will make a call after this series about who the five or six batsmen are for the World Cup,” Du Plessis said. -