“He’s a breath of fresh air on his own without picking up a bat.”
This is how Proteas coach Shukri Conrad described Quinton de Kock’s reintegration into the national team. De Kock was in the international wilderness since last year’s T20 World Cup final against India in Barbados, but recently made a retirement U-turn and was immediately called up for the once-off T20I against Namibia earlier this month.
Conrad was, however, away with the Proteas Test side in Pakistan and only welcomed South African cricket’s prodigal son back into the fold this week ahead of the three-match T20I series, starting Rawalpindi on Tuesday (start 5pm).
“We are really chuffed and thrilled that we’ve got some fresh faces, some fresh energies,” Conrad said. “Not to suggest that the energies were flagging in the previous group, but huge excitement in the group about this T20 series.
“We’ve only really kept Brevis, Tony and Boshy behind, from the Test side. It’s a long tour. It’s a tough tour. Not only the conditions, but a really tough tour.
“The guys that are playing in this format as well have gone home to freshen up for the Indian challenge. So, yeah, great opportunity, some fresh faces. And obviously on everybody’s lips is Quinton de Kock.
“He’s a breath of fresh air on his own without picking up a bat. So, yeah, thrilled to have Quinton around as well.”
The Pakistan T20I series forms an integral part of the Proteas’ build-up to next year’s T20 World Cup on the subcontinent, and in the absence of stand-in captain David Miller, the team will be led by Donovan Ferreira.
Youngsters such as Lhuan-dre Pretorius and Dewald Brevis will have further opportunities to stake their claims, while experienced campaigners such as Reeza Hendricks and George Linde will be eager to show they cannot be discarded just yet.
“We obviously want to invest all our energies into winning a T20 series here. But obviously there might be guys feeling that this presents them with an opportunity to find a spot on that flight to the T20 World Cup,” Conrad said.
“But we obviously tried to take the focus away from it and steer away from that. But I mean, there’s also that reality. It might be a dress rehearsal for some, it might be a trial for others.
They might feel it. We obviously try not to create that sort of situation.”
T20I squads for Rawalpindi
Proteas: Donovan Ferreira (capt), Corbin Bosch, Dewald Brevis, Nandre Burger, Quinton de Kock, Tony de Zorzi, Reeza Hendricks, George Linde, Kwena Maphaka, Lungi Ngidi, Nqaba Peter, Lhuan-dré Pretorius, Andile Simelane, Lizaad Williams.
Pakistan: Salman Ali Agha (capt), Abdul Samad, Abrar Ahmed, Babar Azam, Faheem Ashraf, Hasan Nawaz, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Wasim Jnr, Mohammad Salman Mirza, Naseem Shah, Sahibzada Farhan, Saim Ayub, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Usman Khan, Usman Tariq
