Plato, Nietzsche, Confucius on same page as De Kock.
Telford Vice | Cape Town
WHEN we’re in the mood for philosophy, we turn to thinkers. Not doers. Quinton de Kock is firmly among the latter, but he came up with a, well, winner of a thought in an audio file CSA released on Wednesday: “The only way to maintain a winning streak is to keep winning. That is the only way. Not by losing.”
Although that’s hardly deep or profound, it’s difficult to imagine Plato, Nietzsche or Confucius disagreeing with De Kock. If the test of a philosophical statement is whether or not it is true, South Africa’s wicketkeeper-batter can’t be faulted.
Not that the South Africans can be said, seriously, to be on a winning streak. They’ve beaten West Indies in the last two of the three T20Is with another two to come, and so they could clinch the series in Grenada on Thursday. But, even though they have won four of their five matches since arriving in the Caribbean, they are not out of the woods they disappeared into in the 2020/21 season — when they were victorious in only one of the six series they played across the formats. And, in De Kock’s defence, it should be noted that he was answering a question, not positing a theory.
But he was given the chance to do so because he and his teammates are performing significantly better than they were a few months ago. That’s what happens when you win: people don’t ask you about losing, which they do when you lose. Again, neither deep nor profound. But this is cricket. Not Plato, Nietzsche or Confucius. Win and everything’s OK, including a batting line-up that has not reached 170 in any of the T20Is.
The visitors’ exemplary attack has more than off-set that deficiency. Tabraiz Shamsi has lived up to his billing as the top-ranked bowler in the format by limiting the damage to 4.66 runs, and Anrich Nortjé isn’t far behind on 6.60. Part of their success is tied to South Africa having maintained the impressive standards they set in the field during the Test series. The only West Indian bowler who has competed at the level of Shamsi and Nortjé is Obed McCoy, who has an economy rate of 6.41 for the rubber and is the series’ leading wicket-taker with seven strikes. So, not for the first time, South Africa have their bowlers and fielders to thank for the advantage they take into Thursday’s match.
Of course, it’s not as if West Indies have been batting up a storm lately. They did in the first T20I, when André Fletcher and Evin Lewis hammered an opening stand of 84 off 42 balls and the home side won with eight wickets standing and five overs to spare. But they have failed to follow through on that start, banking only one other stand of 50 or more in the series despite harbouring some of the most experienced T20 exponents in the business.
The XI South Africa put on the field on Tuesday have 1,375 senior appearances in the format between them. Or seven fewer than Kieron Pollard, Dwayne Bravo and André Russell’s combined total of 1,382. South Africa’s most seasoned player is David Miller and his 341 caps — 129 more than De Kock’s 212 but 202 fewer than Pollard’s 543.
And after all that the only number that matters is South Africa’s 2-1 series lead. With neither batting order functioning properly, there is no telling which way Thursday’s game will go. That’s not philosophy. It’s something that cricketers find more straightforward to face: fact.
When: Thursday July 1, 2021. 2pm Local Time
Where: St George’s, Grenada
What to expect: Another slowish but consistent, true pitch. And interruptions: a 70% chance of rain has been forecast.
Team news
West Indies: With the series on the line Chris Gayle is a likely returnee, not least because his 32 not out in the first game was central to the Windies’ only win so far. Shimron Hetmyer, who replaced Gayle on Tuesday and scored 17 off 10 balls, is the leading candidate to sit out.
Possible XI: Evin Lewis, Lendl Simmons, Chris Gayle, Nicholas Pooran, Kieron Pollard, Jason Holder, André Russell, Dwayne Bravo, Fabian Allen, Kevin Sinclair, Obed McCoy
South Africa: Aiden Markram, the visitors’ only change when they left out Heinrich Klaasen on Tuesday, seems set to retain his place. Lungi Ngidi has been South Africa’s most expensive bowler in the series, might make way for Andile Phehlukwayo. Or Wiaan Mulder or Lizaad Williams.
Possible XI: Quinton de Kock, Reeza Hendricks, Temba Bavuma, Aiden Markram, Rassie van der Dussen, David Miller, George Linde, Andile Phehlukwayo, Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortjé, Tabraiz Shamsi
What they said
“We’re still trying to bind as a team, but we should have found a way to win — no excuses.” — Nicholas Pooran takes no prisoners after Tuesday’s loss.
“We play way too much cricket for me to keep up with everything. Probably at a point in my life when I’m closer towards the end of my career, maybe I will. But for now I’m soldiering on and carrying on going.” — Quinton de Kock on not noticing that Tuesday’s match was his 50th T20I.
First published by Cricbuzz.
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