Quinton de Kock’s hit and miss day is our Play of the Day.
In the tea break, SuperSport pundit Robin Peterson said that Quinton de Kock has all the makings of becoming one of the greatest wicketkeepers the world has ever seen. It was a bold statement, but after another brilliant one-handed grab to remove Tom Westley for 29 in the second session, you could see what prompted him to say that.
De Kock has had an excellent series behind the stumps, and that catch to remove Westley was his 100th Test dismissal. Only Adam Gilchrist achieved the feat faster.
The catch was almost a replica of the one to see off England skipper Joe Root in the third Test, as he had to shift all of his weight from his left to his right to take a diving, one-handed catch. Root and De Kock were involved in another incident at Old Trafford on Friday, but the one left red-faced in this instance was De Kock.
Three overs after tea, Root, on 40, edged what was supposed to be a regulation catch for De Kock, with the ball flying in between De Kock and Amla at first slip. Amla, so used to seeing De Kock take those kinds of catches, remained unmoved, as both players saw it continue past them to the boundary. Morne Morkel, normally so calm, was livid. To make matters worse, it allowed Root to become the fourth-fastest Englishman to 5 000 Test runs, but the miss wasn’t too costly, as he was dismissed shortly after bringing up his half-century.
Photo: Stu Forster/Getty Images
