Start with the 2015 World Cup in Australia where he had a dismal outing, scoring just 145 runs from eight games at an average of 20.7, then move to an improved show in England in 2019, where 305 runs came at an average of nearly 40, and finish with the all-timer of a campaign that he is having this time around in 2023, averaging 81.4 after five matches. De Kock might have taken three attempts, but one of the finest wicketkeeper-batters of the modern game has finally turned up at the biggest stage in cricket and is leading his team’s charge to the top.

From 17 innings in 2015 and 2019 combined, de Kock managed a grand total of zero hundreds at the World Cup. This time, he has managed three from five innings already. His latest one, a record-breaking 174 at the Wankhede Stadium against Bangladesh today (October 24), took South Africa to 382, their second consecutive 380-plus total.

Having missed out on a belter of a surface against England three days back, de Kock dug in and made amends today. His first 50 balls fetched 54 as he eased through the first half of the innings. While some batters would have accelerated at that point, de Kock played the long game, ticking strike over as Bangladesh tried and failed to employ the spin-choke.

It was only after reaching his hundred in the 35th over, the 20th of his illustrious ODI career, that de Kock upped the ante. The next 20 balls fetched 26. The last 19 fetched 48. When he was dismissed for 174 off 140 balls, South Africa’s innings still had 4.5 overs to go. A double hundred was a realistic possibility.

De Kock went past AB de Villiers’ 162 not out against West Indies in the 2015 World Cup to register the second-highest individual score by a South African batter in World Cup history. The record is still held by Gary Kirsten for his epic 188 not out against the UAE in the 1996 World Cup.

De Kock’s hundred meant South Africa crossed 380 at the 2023 World Cup for the third time today. To put this in perspective, no other team in the history of the men’s ODI World Cup has put up more than two totals of 380 across editions. South Africa have done it thrice in their last five games. And two of those three occasions have involved a Quinton de Kock hundred.

[caption id=”attachment_588971″ align=”alignnone” width=”1024″] Quinton de Kock put on a show for the Wankhede crowd against Bangladesh[/caption]

Coming into the World Cup, de Kock wasn’t in the greatest of form. His last 13 ODI innings before the 2023 World Cup had brought just one half-century and no centuries. In fact, his last ODI hundred had come way back in January 2022. South Africa needed one of their most experienced batters in Indian conditions to turn up at the World Cup. And turn up he has.

The first match against Sri Lanka saw him score a breezy 84-ball 100 that set the platform for South Africa to post the biggest total in World Cup history. The second, a sterner test against Australia in Lucknow, had a similar outcome as de Kock scored 109 off 106, helping South Africa reach a match-winning total of 311. The third and fourth were blips, but that was what they were, blips. At the Wankhede against Bangladesh today, he roared back and how.

South Africa have been a beast while batting first lately. This was their seventh consecutive victory by 100 or more runs while batting first. In fact, dating back to 2015, this was the third consecutive ODI where South Africa scored 380-plus at the Wankhede Stadium. Mid-way into the World Cup, things are looking better for South Africa than they were expected to. While the entire team has contributed in some way or the other, de Kock has been at the forefront of the charge.

Yes, they have only won while setting a target and not while chasing one so far at the World Cup, but given the way they have recovered from the defeat against Netherlands and the way their individual brilliance is adding up to produce collective results, South Africa would like to believe that no challenge will be too big for them going forward. And Quinton de Kock will be there, being the first line of attack at the top, no matter what.