Quinton de Kock Reverses Cricket Retirement with No Strings Attached

In a sharp turn of events, South Africa’s star batter Quinton de Kock has reversed his international cricket retirement. He has shown his willingness to play for South Africa once again, as the batter says he can still contribute a lot to the team. This news has brought a wave of joy for the South African cricket fans, as they were missing the star batter for quite some time.

Quinton de Kock first contacted the South African coach, Shukri Conrad, in early August. He expressed his willingness to represent South Africa again during the phone call to Conrad. This admission made Conrad a bit surprised, as he was not expecting De Kock to return to the national colors again.

When Conrad’s phone rang suddenly at 2 am in Darwin, he was amazed to see that it was De Kock on the other end.

"It was Quinny (Quinton de Kock). He just expressed the desire to play for South Africa again in both white-ball formats. We chatted for a bit and I said I'd come back to him in a couple of days. Then, I chatted to a few other people and the rest is history." said Shukri Conrad at a press conference on Monday.

Quinton de Kock has been named in the Proteas squad for the upcoming Pakistan tour. He is named in both ODI and T20I squads that will be led by Matthew Breetzke and David Miller. His return will give Proteas renewed fire at the top order, which was struggling a bit since his retirement.

When Shukri Conrad told other South African officials about the desire of De Kock to return to the Proteas squad, everyone was taken by surprise. They were amazed because none of them had initiated discussions with De Kock, and his name was discussed in the national selection meetings almost a year ago.

Quinton de Kock retired from the ODIs after the ICC Men’s World Cup in 2023. At that time, Rob Walter was the coach of the Proteas team. When De Kock announced his retirement, Walter said that he didn’t know whether Quinton would ever come back again to the squad. However, when Shukri Conrad became the head coach just after when Walter left, he expected the decision to reverse.

"He called of his own free will and he expressed a desire to play for South Africa again," said Conrad at the press conference. He further stated that De Kock has not laid down any conditions to return to the squad. This means that he can represent South Africa in multiple tournaments that are coming down the line.

"There's nothing like, 'I'm only available for a World Cup,' or this or that. There are actually no strings attached," said Conrad.

The return of Quinton de Kock, with no specific conditions, is therefore good news for South Africa. They will now feel confident that one of their star batters is ready to launch an attack from the start of play.

Quinton de Kock will now feature in the ODI and T20I games against Pakistan, where he will get the opportunity to show his hunger and passion again for the Proteas team.