Former South Africa captain Shaun Pollock feels that the retirement of wicketkeeper-batter Quinton de Kock from Test cricket and the commotion that has followed it ‘might not be the end of the saga’.
Shaun Pollock Opens on Quinton de Kock Test Retirement
He added there may be demands for De Kock to come out of retirement, just like there were for AB de Villiers a few years back.
Pollock, during a conversation with Cricbuzz, compared the current situation with AB de Villiers’ retirement in 2018.
“I have also got a funny feeling that it might not be the end of the saga. I think two maybe three years down the line, much like an ABD discussion because ‘Quinny’ is such a fine player, there might always be calls for maybe him to come back,” he said.
Pollock recognised that De Kock’s decision was “sad” and “shocking,” but said that the players’ mental health had suffered as a result of the repeated quarantines.
“It is sad and it would have come out as shocking… I think just mentally the bubbles, continuously being away from home are maybe taking its effect on the individuals. ‘Quinny’ is a guy who likes to go hunting, fishing, he likes to spend a bit of time away from the game and he’s not been able to do that.
“Then obviously, at this stage of his career, he’s 29, you look at what sort of floats your boat, what is the format that you really get excited about, you know, there’s a lot of T20 leagues where he can just stand and deliver and probably have a lot of fun and probably takes a bit of stress off his body,” Pollock said.
Twenty-nine-year-old De Kock made his Test debut against Australia in Gqeberha in 2014. He made 3300 Test runs across 91 innings at an average of 38.82, with six centuries and 22 fifties. Only Mark Boucher has claimed more Test dismissals than de Kock (232) for South Africa.
