WHY DID DE KOCK TAKE THE KNEE?
SOUTH AFRICA’S Quinton de Kock cut a sheepish figure as he took the BLM knee before the four-wicket win over Sri Lanka in Sharjah yesterday.
It marked the conclusion to a disheartening set of events in which a one-time national hero was pilloried for a personal decision and appeared on the brink of walking out on the World Cup.
Instead, De Kock performed a remarkable U-turn following frantic talks with officials who were desperate to keep their former captain on board and to quieten the storm of attention.
And after taking the knee, De Kock scored 12 off 10 balls as South Africa skittled Sri Lanka out for 142.
Given the tensions between player and management, however, you fear that this dispute is not finished. For, until now, this is a player whose flashpoints with officials and disciplinary issues have been kept out of the media.
‘He has always danced to his own tune and has never taken well to being told what to do,’ a former national assistant coach told The Mail on Sunday.
‘He needed careful managing and the coach always had to ask himself whether Quinton was being difficult, whether it really mattered, or whether he was being himself,’ the coach said.
De Kock, one of the world’s most destructive batsmen, was certainly being himself when he withdrew from the Windies clash on Tuesday. Orders were orders and he rejected them.
The directive that came from Cricket South Africa’s board of directors arrived around five hours before the game and it infuriated De Kock. He simmered on the two-hour trip from Abu Dhabi to Dubai.
Only on arrival did captain Temba Bavuma learn that his best batter and wicketkeeper would not be available. ‘We were shocked but he has his reasons. He’s an adult and stands in his own shoes, and we respect that,’ said Bavuma.
Not everyone respected it, however. On Thursday, De Kock backtracked with an apology after what he said were ‘highly-emotional’ talks with management, saying he was ‘perfectly happy’ to take a knee.
‘I am deeply sorry for all the hurt, confusion and anger that I have caused,’ his statement read, going on to explain he is from a mixed-race family: ‘For me, black lives have mattered since I was born.’
But even in his apology he could not resist focusing on the rights that he felt had been trampled over by the board.
‘I was raised to understand that we all have rights and they are important,’ he continued. ‘I felt like my rights
were taken away when I was told what we had to do in the way that we were told.’
For now, peace has been restored in the South African camp. ‘We’ve had some time to get over everything that’s been happening,’ Bavuma said yesterday. ‘Quinton is in a much better state.’
The peace, given De Kock’s history, is not however guaranteed to last long.