Proteas aim to have De Kock ready for Oz
Wrist injury rules wicketkeeper out of action for two to four weeks
SOUTH AFRICA’S batting woes were compounded yesterday after Quinton de Kock joined the growing list of injured Proteas batsmen.
De Kock has been ruled out of the remainder of the one-day international series and upcoming T20 international series against India due to a left wrist injury.
He sustained the injury during the second ODI against India at Centurion on Sunday, and will require two to four weeks to make a recovery.
“Quinton suffered an extreme blow to the left wrist and felt severe pain and discomfort. Further investigation revealed severe bony bruising to the area, with associated swelling around the tendon in the wrist,” Proteas team manager and doctor Mohammed Moosajee explained.
“This type of injury subsequently rules him out. The CSA medical team will aim to have him ready for the Test series against Australia starting next month.”
SA have already lost captain Faf du Plessis, due to a finger injury, for the remainder of the limited-overs series, while AB de Villiers is missing the first three ODIs.
This situation does not aid SA’s chances of getting back into a series India currently lead 2-0 heading into the third match at Newlands tomorrow.
The batting unit was particularly awful on Sunday when it crashed to 118 all out – SA’s lowest-ever ODI score on home soil.
Titans wicket-keeper Heinrich Klaasen, who was included in the squad after Du Plessis was ruled out after the series-opener in Durban, is being lined up to make his ODI debut at Newlands. India’s spin bowlers have dominated the series thus far and given the visitors a real chance of winning their maiden ODI series on SA soil.
The leg-spinning duo of Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav have put the hosts under real pressure during the first two matches, claiming 13 wickets in the process. Chahal exploited the conditions perfectly on Sunday by finishing with career-best figures of 5/22.
Equally, they have both been very economical. Chahal has conceded just 3.65 runs per over with Yadav even less at 3.37. They have particularly been very effective in denying SA the opportunity to build partnerships, especially upfront.
The usually prolific Hashim Amla-De Kock opening partnership has yielded a best of only 39 runs in the first two matches of the series. In contrast, the pair put on 152 and 194 in the first two matches of the 2014 series against India in SA.
Overall, the best partnership for SA has only been 76 for the sixth wicket between Du Plessis and Chris Morris at Kingsmead.
All of this places enormous pressure on SA’s young stand-in captain Aiden Markram. The 23-year-old is only in the fledgling stages of his ODI career, and is still working out his own game plans to be successful at this level. But with De Kock ruled out, he may be asked to open – his Test position – which could help him settle too. SA will hope, though, that De Kock’s enforced break proves to be a blessing in disguise. It has been a summer of torment for the talented left-hander.
From the on-set of the T20 Challenge, De Kock has failed to find the middle of his bat. He scored just 118 runs at an average of 14.75 in eight innings in the domestic competition, and took that lack of form into the international season.
De Kock also failed to register a half-century across seven Test innings against Zimbabwe and India, while the ODIs have not gone much better. De Kock’s current mindset certainly came under scrutiny after the first ODI at Kingsmead when he walked off without reviewing an lbw decision off Chahal. Television replays showed the ball to be turning past his leg stump.