Opener Quinton de Kock has praised the Proteas’ batting resources ahead of Thursday’s Cricket World Cup fixture against Australia in India.
South Africa beat Sri Lanka earlier in the tournament, when de Kock and middle-order batsmen Rassie van der Dussen and Aiden Markram scored centuries.
“We’re doing really well as a batting unit and we’ve worked really hard on our game over the last couple of years, but it’s only one game into the World Cup,” said de Kock.
“So it’s hard to say how we are really going even though we managed really well in our last couple of games. The batting form hasn’t been over the course of years, it’s only been over a month or a couple of months.
“In order for us to be the best, we still need to be a bit more consistent, especially in tight games, like World Cups. That will determine how good we actually are.”
De Kock will retire from ODI cricket after this World Cup. He retired from Test cricket in 2021 – and will remain available for T20I selection.
“I’m not going to speak on behalf of everyone. For myself, I find it quite tiring, but I’m sure there’s still a lot of guys, a lot of youngsters coming through from school, who would love to play this format,” he added.
“I highly recommend that they find a way to keep it going, because there are a lot of guys with big ambitions who want this format to carry on. I think they need to find a place and a time for it to happen.”
The Proteas beat Australia in a five-ODI series last month. The Australians were two-nil up before South Africa completed a three-two score line.
“The Australians and us have always had a great history, a good competitive background,” concluded de Kock.
“Both teams are going to come out fighting, and whoever makes the right choices under pressure will be the stronger team at the end of the day.”
