Quinton de Kock Reveals Reason Behind Turning Down Chance To Lead South Africa In Tests

South Africa star Quinton de Kock has revealed the reason behind declining the chance of becoming the Test captain. The wicketkeeper-batsman, on Sunday, was  named South Africa Cricketer of the Year during a virtual awards ceremony. The South Africa ODI and T20I captain also bagged the Test Cricketer of the Year award.

He became only the sixth player to win the South African cricketer of the year award for the second time. Before him, Jacques Kallis (2004 and 2011), Makhaya Ntini (2005 and 2006), Hashim Amla (2010 and 2013), AB de Villiers (2014 and 2015) and Kagiso Rabada (2016 and 2018) had won the award.

After receiving the prestigious awards, Quinton de Kock revealed that he did not take the Test captain because of the added responsibility that comes with it. He said the pressure that comes with the captaincy in the longer format of the game was too much for him to handle.

“The reality is that it is just too much for me to handle and I know and realised that‚” said Quinton de Kock.

“When it comes to Test cricket I don’t need all that stress. I could see it from a mile away that I didn’t need that on top of my shoulders. We had a very informal chat with [team director] Mark Boucher‚ and I was pretty pleased it came up. I’m pretty happy with the way they went about it‚” he added.

In January this year, Quinton de Kock was named South Africa’s permanent ODI and T20I captain. But in April, Cricket SA director of cricket Graeme Smith confirmed that the wicketkeeper would not be the Test captain. Smith had also said that the risk of overburdening de Kock has resulted in ruling him out of leadership role in all three formats.

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