Watch: At the Ekana Stadium in Lucknow, Quinton de Kock pulled Pat Cummins for six to reach his second consecutive World Cup hundred.
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Ahead of the 2023 World Cup, Quinton de Kock had announced that he would retire from ODIs after the tournament. When he arrived in India, his ODI record – 6,176 runs at 44.75, strike rate 96 – made excellent reading, but his World Cup numbers made ordinary reading.
From 17 matches across the 2015 and 2019 editions, de Kock’s World Cup aggregate stood at 450 runs at 30, with a strike rate of 86. He had failed to convert any of his four fifties to even an eighty, let alone a hundred.
He corrected that blemish in South Africa’s tournament opener with an 84-ball 100 (12 fours, three sixes) in the record-fest against Sri Lanka at Delhi.
Against Australia at his IPL home in Lucknow, too, de Kock raced to his first fifty in 51 balls, and switched gears thereafter. Losing Temba Bavuma (35) or Rassie van der Dussen (26) did not slow him down. The second fifty took only 39 balls.
In the 30th over, Pat Cummins pitched on a length, and de Kock put the first two balls away for a two and a single. Cummins then dropped Aiden Markram off his own bowling, and conceded a run.
Cummins now pitched short, but de Kock read the length early. He middled the pull, and the ball soared over the deep mid-wicket into the stands to bring up his hundred, off 90 balls.
He eventually fell to Glenn Maxwell for a 106-ball 109. By then, his World Cup average had shot up to 38.76, the strike rate to 92, and the sixes count from four to 12. He also had his first two World Cup hundreds under his belt.
At the time of writing, South Africa were 219-3 in 38 overs with Aiden Markram (26) and Heinrich Klaasen (13) at the crease.
Watch Quinton de Kock hit Pat Cummins for six to bring up his hundred:
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