'He's an unbelievable performer' - David Miller hails South Africa's new ODI captain Quinton de Kock

The South African cricket scene is changing quite fast especially after the past 18 months or so, which have been horrifying for the rainbow nation on the cricket field. A poor 2019 World Cup, home Test series loss to Sri Lanka, a bashing by England at home again and humiliation at the hand of Indian team away; something had to give.

December of the last year saw major changes in the Cricket South Africa management and administration with former captain Graeme Smith taking over as the Director of CSA and then him bringing in Mark Boucher as the head coach until 2023, with Jacques Kallis being appointed as the batting consultant. However, one of the biggest changes was naming Quinton de Kock the captain in limited-overs cricket, taking over from Faf du Plessis.

‘He thinks about things very simply’: David Miller on Quinton de Kock

The 27-year-old wicketkeeper-batsman was named the T20I captain on tour to India, which they managed to draw 1-1. This became a long-term thing keeping the two T20 World Cups in 2020 and 2021 and the CSA further showed faith in De Kock, by making him the captain in the ODI format as well. He will be shortly leading a new look Proteas one-day side against England which has five uncapped players but has the backing of the most experienced player in the side in David Miller.

Miller, who has played 126 ODIs for South Africa, backed the new captain. “As everyone knows, Quinny is Quinny. He’s an unbelievable performer, thinks about things very simply…There’s a calmness to him that comes with that. He oozes enjoying the game and I think that’s a great asset that he has,” the 30-year-old Miller was quoted as saying by ESPNCricinfo.

He said this is an exciting time for the South African cricket, but knew the young blood has the zeal to learn and lots of energy to give their best and bring Proteas to their former glory. “It’s an exciting time to be in South African cricket. but the guys have got a lot of energy, they’re willing to learn and having the management we do, that have played a lot of cricket, it’s a good combination,” Miller added.

The first ODI of the three-match series between South Africa and England will be played at Cape Town on February 4, with the other two matches following on Feb 7 in Durban and Feb 9 in Johannesburg.

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