De Kock comes in at four, and combines well with Amla on day one

QUINTON DE KOCK was typically unfazed about being promoted up the order and says he’d be happy to continue playing in that position and keeping wicket, but he’d have to improve his fitness.

South Africa had jotted De Kock’s name down at No 4 on the team sheet that was handed to the match referee at the toss yesterday morning, but even as he came to the crease at the fall of Heino Kuhn’s wicket it was still somewhat surprising. The idea had been broached with him on Wednesday in a conversation with skipper Faf du Plessis.

“Faf asked where I would like to bat and I said that I would like to bat 4. It didn’t change much in my game plan. Obviously I knew I might need to be a bit tighter coming up against a newer ball. Mentally going into it I was the same. I just kept it simple.”

De Kock featured in what was arguably South Africa’s best period of batting in the series so far, helping to add 123 for the third wicket with Hashim Amla, who top scored with 78. De Kock’s innings was typically attacking as he scored 68 off 81 balls, hitting eight fours.

De Kock’s opposite number Jonny Bairstow said he wasn’t at all surprised to see De Kock stride out at no.4, citing his Test average of 50, as making it an obvious choice for the South Africans.

“Obviously that’s a team balance issue in terms of what they want to do,” said Bairstow, who took a very fine catch to help dismiss Faf du Plessis in the afternoon.

“For us if we can get him in early, we can exploit any movement there is off the pitch, but at the same time, there’s also the opportunity of a guy going on and scoring a very big hundred.”

Quite how long playing De Kock at No 4 will be an option remains to be seen. Aged 24, he’s still reasonably young, but the physical and mental demands of keeping and batting that high up will wear him down. “It’s up to the individual,” said Bairstow.

“I’m sure AB (de Villiers) was asked what the best position was for him to bat, (Adam) Gilchrist too. I’ve been asked that recently, I think it is very personal to the team and the balance of the side. There has to be flexibility around it, if Quinton’s kept for 200 overs and then has to go in after a quick two wickets then that’s a very tough thing to do.”

For now De Kock is happy enough to do it. “Ja I think I’m fit enough,” he said.

“To me it’s nothing different to whether you are fielding in the main positions and end up in the field for long periods of time. It doesn’t really bother me. If I need to do extra fitness work and be one of the fitter cricketers around the world to do that job, I’ll do it. I’ll just do what the team needs from me.”

De Kock said South Africa was content with where they were placed after the first day, thanks in the main to Vernon Philander (54*) and Chris Morris’s (23) unbeaten partnership of 74 for the seventh wicket.

“It was very up and down today. One session was our session, one was England’s. It was very back and forth. We did go through some stages where we played some good cricket but we would have liked to have done better. Unfortunately it’s not the nature of the game to have everything you want. I think (Saturday) will be moving day for us. Vern and Morro have got us into a great position again, so we’ll just look to capitalise on that.” PLAYS OF THE DAY SHOT: South Africa’s best period of batting hitherto in the series – the partnership between Amla and De Kock – featured many examples of the latter’s outrageous skill. One stroke stood out, and you won’t find it in any training manual – a sort of tennis serve-pull, off Stokes in the 48th over. De Kock with his bat vertical above his head, almost hit over the top of the ball, sending it through midwicket for four. WORKING OVER: Broad to Kuhn was good, Anderson to Elgar was better; England’s top Test wickettaker had already got two deliveries to nip away from the left-hander and then teased him with one slightly fuller and wider, drawing Elgar into a false stroke. South Africa’s opener pushed hard at the ball, it flew off the edge, giving Dawson the chance to take a fine diving catch in the gully. CATCH: Jonny Bairstow’s wicketkeeping has improved beyond measure in the last year and he looks a better than competent gloveman, and not just a good batsman who keeps. Yesterday his part in the dismissal of Du Plessis was another very good example of his technique and agility; efficient movement to his left, before sticking out his left glove, snatching a difficult chance. HERO: De Kock’s looseness was the start of a mini-collapse that saw South Africa lose three wickets for the addition of just 41 runs. It means Vernon Philander, in at no.7 in the re-jigged batting order,had to play with care and great discipline and see off the second new ball. He played with aplomb. South Africa had stuttered after tea, but in combination with Chris Morris, Philander showed great resilience, while hitting some exquisite shots, to register a seventh Test half-century – his third against England. CONDITIONS: Heavy cloud, lots of grass, a pitch with lots of moisture where Anderson and Broad have shared 87 wickets... SA’s openers would have been forgiven for thinking their captain didn’t like them when he chose to bat. But the pace off the surface was slow and as the sun shone on it later, it actually looked much easier for batting. South Africa ultimately didn’t take sufficient advantage of batting first.