South Africa's captain Temba Bavuma lauded left-handed opener Quinton de Kock after the 30-year-old bid farewell to 50-over cricket by playing his last match against Australia in the ICC World Cup 2023 semi-final in Kolkata.
De Kock was the Proteas' best player in the mega event with 594 runs to his name with a 59.40 average and a handsome strike rate of 107.02. He also hit four tons in the process, which is the most in the tournament so far.
Bavuma, who led his side to the World Cup semi-final, praised the left-handed batter and stated that he would go down as one of the legends of the game.
“He would have wanted to end things on a different note, but he'll remember the type of innings and fight we showed as a team,” Bavuma said of De Kock after the semi-final loss to Australia.
“Us as players, we've enjoyed playing with him through all the years. In South Africa he will go down as one of the legends of the game,” he added.
Australia's left-arm pacer Mitchell Starc also shed light on the importance of De Kock's saying that he has been a big part of South Africa's World Cup campaign and getting his wicket was big.
“We were able to build a lot of dot balls on them, which brings a shot like Quinton played,” Starc said after the final.
“He's obviously been a big part of their World Cup and scoring runs, so to see the back of him early and get their middle order in, as I said, sooner rather than towards the back end where they can play with freedom was what we drew up,” Starc had further added.
It must be noted that before the start of the World Cup, De Kock confirmed that he would call time on his ODI and Test career after the mega-event and will only focus on playing T20 cricket, both for his country and clubs.
- Quinton De Kock