Dale Steyn Baffled With South Africa's Strategy In World Cup Warm Up Match As Quinton de Kock Keeps On Batting

Dale Steyn was not at all pleased with South Africa‘s strategy during their warm-up clash against New Zealand in Thiruvananthapuram on Monday (October 2).

The Proteas did well with the bat before rain intervened and they lost the game by 7 runs (DLS method). Batting first, the Black Caps scored 321 for 6 in the allotted 50 overs. Devon Conway and Tom Latham scored fifties. While Latham scored 78 runs before retiring hurt, Latham was dismissed by Marco Jansen for 52.

In reply, South Africa started on a poor note as Reeza Hendricks was dismissed for a duck by Trent Boult. But fifties from Quinton de Kock and Rassie van der Dussen steadied the ship and put South Africa in a good position. They were on 211 for 4 after 37 overs when rain arrived and brought a premature end to the action.

Dale Steyn unimpressed with South Africa’s strategy:

While South Africa did well with the bat after the initial setback, Dale Steyn was not at all impressed with one of their strategies. The Proteas legend expressed his surprise over Quinton de Kock continuing to bat well after reaching his half-century. The wicketkeeper-batsman was unbeaten on 84 off 89 balls when rain ended the game.

Dale Steyn took to X (formerly Twitter) to share his views. While warm-up games are usually used by the teams to give almost all of their batsmen an opportunity to finetune their preparation, South Africa had different ideas. And Dale Steyn was baffled by the decision as he wrote:  “Umm, why is QDK still batting??? Warm up game, get him off”

Umm, why is QDK still batting???

Warm up game, get him off

— Dale Steyn (@DaleSteyn62) October 2, 2023

Meanwhile, Quinton de Kock has already announced that he will retire from ODIs after the World Cup. He has already retired from Tests. After the World Cup, he will focus only on the T20 format, plying his trade for South Africa and franchises across the world. And ahead of his last ODI assignment, Quinton de Kock has vowed to give his all.

“I’ve played a lot of cricket already. I’ll give the World Cup my best shot. I would like to tick off an ICC event. I don’t see myself being involved in the game in any way when I stop playing. I want a life after cricket,” he said.