Quinton de Kock addressed his home crowd in Johannesburg ahead of his final ODI on South African turf today (September 17), telling them that his “body tells me I’m 40.”
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De Kock, 31, is set to retire from ODI cricket upon the culmination of this year’s World Cup in India, making the fifth ODI between South Africa and Australia his final 50-over appearance for his nation on home soil.
The wicketkeeper’s decision to call it quits in ODI cricket comes fewer than two years after he retired from Test cricket at the age of 29.
Addressing his home crowd on his decision to retire from the format prior to his final home ODI, de Kock said: “It was just the feeling I was getting. In the end of my Tests, I was fighting to play. Fifty Tests was a lot and could take a toll on you. I gave it thought and chatted with people I trust. They said there’s no shame on retiring and focusing on other formats. Lots of memories in the 10-11 years. My body tells me I’m 40, my ID says I’m 31, I still mentally try to act like I am 20 all the time.”
There was to be no fairytale farewell for de Kock as he fell for 27 edging a Nathan Ellis delivery to Cameron Green at slip, though the Proteas did go on to record a 3-2 series win, coming back from 0-2 down.
De Kock is still expected to feature for South Africa in T20I cricket with the next T20 World Cup scheduled to take place in West Indies and USA in June 2024. He remains a regular on the T20 circuit, featuring in the Caribbean Premier League, The Hundred, the Indian Premier League and the SA20 in the last 18 months; he is set to feature in the Big Bash League for the first time this winter.
At the time of writing, de Kock sits seventh on South Africa’s all-time leading run-scorers list in ODI cricket while only Hashim Amla, AB de Villiers and Herschelle Gibbs have more centuries for South Africa than him in the format. Among wicketkeepers, only Kumar Sangakkara has more ODI hundreds; de Kock has one more ODI hundred than Adam Gilchrist from 130 fewer innings.
