What’s the story?
South Africa cricketer Quinton de Kock broke the record for the fewest innings taken by a wicket-keeper to reach 1000 runs in Test Cricket. The left-hander reached the mark during his knock of 101 on the second day of the Cape Town Test against Sri Lanka.
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South Africa began the day at the score of 297 for 6 with de Kock unbeaten on 68 and helped by lower-down contributions, added 95 runs before being all out for 392. de Kock resumed on 68 on the second day and added 33 more runs, en route to going past Jonny Bairstow, who had reached the mark in 22 innings.
The heart of the matter
de Kock has been a prolific run-scorer for South Africa in the past 18 months or so, having excelled in both the whites as well as the coloured clothing and plays a vital role in the lower-order in Test Cricket and in the top order in the ODIs.
This is the 25th innings of his Test career, out of which he has batted in 23 innings and in those 23 innings, de Kock has played as a keeper-batsman in 21 innings. He went past Bairstow’s record, who accomplished the feat in 22 innings. Kumar Sangakkara and AB De Villiers achieved the feat in 23 innings.
| No, | Name | Test innings Taken to reach 1000 Runs |
| 1. | Quinton de Kock | 21 |
| 2. | Jonny Bairstow | 22 |
| 3. | Kumar Sangakkara/AB de Villiers | 23 |
| 4. | Jeffrey Dujon | 24 |
What’s next?
The year 2017 has just begun and de Kock has carried on from where he had left in 2016, blazing away with the bat and providing his side with some crucial runs down the order. With the Proteas scheduled to tour England in mid-2017, de Kock will have a key role to play for his side in both the Tests as well as the ODIs.
Sportskeeda’s take
Ever since he first burst onto the scene, de Kock was identified as a player to watch out for the future. He first impressed everyone in short-form cricket, when he made two hundreds in as many matches against India at home in 2013 and continued to further enhance his reputation from there on.
His big jump up in Test Cricket came a bit later, in 2016 when he amassed 695 runs in 8 matches to cement his spot in the playing XI and help South Africa attain balance in the lower-middle-order.
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