De Kock’s refusal to take knee overshadows win

QUINTON DE KOCK overshadowed South Africa’s victory over West Indies in the T20 World Cup after dramatically withdrawing from the fixture over his refusal to take the knee.

The Windies’ defence of their title looks to be in tatters after a second successive tournament defeat as the Proteas overhauled a target of 144 with eight wickets and 10 balls to spare in Dubai.

The contest itself became a mere subplot after De Kock had pulled out for “personal reasons”, just two hours after Cricket South Africa issued a directive for all players to take a knee for the rest of the tournament.

A subsequent statement from CSA said it “has noted the personal decision… not to take the knee” of De Kock, who has previously refused to take part in the gesture and said in June: “It’s my own, personal opinion.”

CSA added: “The board will await a further report from team management before deciding on the next steps. All players are expected to follow this directive for the remaining games of the World Cup.”

De Kock was replaced in the line-up by Reeza Hendricks, with Heinrich Klaasen taking on the wicket-keeping role as South Africa bounced back from Saturday’s loss to claim their first win.

Evin Lewis’ 56 from 35 balls helped to usher the defending champions to 143 for eight, but Hendricks’ 39 laid the groundwork for Aiden Markram (51 not out) and Rassie van der Dussen (43 not out) to get South Africa home.

In the late game, Asif Ali scored 27 runs off just 12 balls to power Pakistan to a five-wicket victory over New Zealand.

New Zealand set a target of 135 and restricted their rivals’ scoring for much of the reply, but Asif’s three big sixes secured Pakistan’s second straight win with eight balls remaining.