Quinton de Kock is scripting a fairytale ending to his ODI career as the 30-year-old has hit a purple patch like no other in the ongoing World Cup 2023. The southpaw scored a terrific ton against New Zealand in the 32nd match of the ongoing marquee tournament while playing at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Pune on Wednesday, November 1 and shattered a major record for the Proteas.
De Kock scored 114 runs off 116 balls, including 10 fours and three sixes and broke South African great Jacques Kallis' record of scoring the most runs for the Proteas in a single World Cup edition. Kallis had scored 485 runs in 10 games during the 2007 World Cup in the Caribbean with the help of three fifties and a ton.
De Kock has now surpassed Kallis as he has already racked up 545 runs in seven games at an astounding batting average of 77.85. The star wicketkeeper-batter has scored four centuries thus far and has been batting at a strike rate of 112.60.
Notably, the ongoing tournament is going to be the last ODI event of de Kock's playing career as he wishes to shift his focus now to playing T20Is and franchise tournaments all around the world. He has already retired from the longest form of the sport.
South Africa has benefitted tremendously from de Kock's red-hot form. They are placed second on the points table with 10 points in six matches and have the best net run rate (NRR) (2.032) among all the participating teams in the entire tournament.
