T20 World Cup: Quinton de Kock’s withdrawal took South Africa back as a team, says Temba Bavuma

T20 World Cup: Temba Bavuma said that the withdrawal of a senior player like Quinton de Kock took the team back but they got on with it as they notched up a strong eight-wicket win against defending champions West Indies.

Klaasen took the gloves in place of De Kock. (AP Photo)

HIGHLIGHTSBavuma had said before the match that De Kock sat out due to “personal reasons”De Kock withdrawal had come on the heels of CSA’s directive to take the kneeSouth Africa put up a clinical performance, however, to win the match by 8 wickets

South Africa were taken “back as a team” when they got to know of Quinton de Kock’s decision to withdraw from their T20 World Cup match against the West Indies. De Kock’s withdrawal followed closely on the heels of Cricket South Africa issuing a directive to its players to take the knee in support of the ‘Black Lives Matter’ movement

“I guess a bit of both,” said Bavuma after the match when asked if de Kock’s absence inspired the team or got in the way. South Africa did not seem to feel De Kock’s absence, cruising to an eight-wicket win against the defending champions.

“To be honest, when the news hit us it did kind of take us back as a team. A guy like Quinnie, he obviously plays an integral role within the team, not just with the bat but as a senior player,” Bavuma added.

Aiden Markram struck a whirlwind unbeaten half century as South Africa produced an all-round effort to bounce back strongly from their opening defeat against Australia and beat West Indies to secure their first win in the Super 12 stage.

“With (Henrich) Kalssen coming in it was an opportunity for him and at the end of the day it was another day of cricket for us to play for our country and we had to make sure we live up to that,” Bavuma said.

The knowledge that the pace duo of Anrich Nortje and Kagiso Rabada, who featured in the recently-concluded IPL, are passing on to their teammates has played a huge role in South Africa’s excellent bowling in both matches, according to Bavuma.

“I think the conversations we have on the field are a lot shorter, a lot clearer on what to do, and they (Rabada and Nortje) pass on information to other bowlers as well. Their knowledge has been a positive one for us.”

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