JOHANNESBURG: South Africa wicketkeeper-batsman, Quinton de Kock, on Thursday announced retirement from Test cricket with immediate effect “to spend more time with his growing family”.
The announcement comes on the backdrop of South Africa’s defeat in the first Test match against India in Centurion, where the visitors won by 113 runs and took a 1-0 lead in the three-match series.
De Kock was due to miss the second and third Tests against India on paternity leave but has decided to step away from the longest format entirely. He remains available to play white-ball cricket for South Africa.
The left-handed batter made his Test debut against Australia in Port Elizabeth in 2014. In 54 matches, he has scored 3300 runs with the highest score of 141 not-out, at an average of 38.82 and strike rate of 70.93. He also has six centuries and 22 half-centuries under his belt.
Behind the stumps, he has 232 dismissals, including 221 catches and 11 stumpings. De Kock has also taken the third-most catches in the inaugural ICC World Test Championship – 48 in 11 matches (47 catches and 1 stumping) and has a personal best of six dismissals in an innings, against England in Centurion in 2019.
de Kock, 29, began 2021 as South Africa’s temporary Test captain and ended it by retiring from the format. He led South Africa in four Tests, against Sri Lanka and Pakistan, with a 50% win record. South Africa beat Sri Lanka 2-0 at home but lost in Pakistan by the same margin.
In a statement released, the country’s cricket board revealed that he intends to spend more time with his growing family and hence took the call for relatively early retirement from the format. He and his wife, Sasha, are anticipating the imminent birth of their first-born child in the coming days.
“This is not a decision that I have come to very easily. I have taken a lot of time to think about what my future looks like and what needs to take priority in my life now that Sasha and I are about to welcome our first child into this world and look to grow our family beyond that,” he said.
“My family is everything to me and I want to have the time and space to be able to be with them during this new and exciting chapter of our lives,” de Kock said in a statement issued by CSA.
He continued, “I love Test cricket and I love representing my country and all that it comes with. I’ve enjoyed the ups and the downs, the celebrations and even the disappointments, but now I’ve found something that I love even more.”
“This is not the end of my career as a Protea, I’m fully committed to white ball cricket and representing my country to the best of my ability for the foreseeable future. See you in the ODIs and T20s,” it concluded.
