Not since Mark Boucher and Nic Pothas tussled over who would become South Africa's permanent wicketkeeper after Dave Richardson, has there been this much excitement over a gloveman. Because he can bat too.

Quinton de Kock was spotted as schoolboy talent at the King Edward VII High School, the alma mata of Graeme Smith and Neil McKenzie. He also played club cricket at the affiliate Old Eds, where he hit 98 runs off 74 balls to help them win the premier league in 2009. His aggressive, all-round-the-wicket style of play resulted in him being picked for South Africa's under-19 squad, which he captained.

The leadership was taken away from him ahead of the 2012 World Cup in Australia so he could concentrate on his batting. It paid off as he finished as South Africa's top batsman with 284 runs from six matches, a highest score of 126 and an average of 48.33.

De Kock was contracted to the Lions in 2012-13, having featured in their Twenty20 campaign the season before. He was soon a regular in all formats although he was not their first-choice wicketkeeper because the national-contracted Thami Tsolekile had that position.

It turned out to be a fruitful summer for de Kock. He caught the national selectors' eye during the Champions League T20 where he starred in a match-winning partnership against the Mumbai Indians with McKenzie. He finished fourth on the first-class rankings, despite playing only six of the 10 matches.

He was selected for South Africa's T20I series against New Zealand in the 2012-13 season to keep in place of AB de Villiers, who asked to be rested. De Kock leapfrogged other candidates like Heino Kuhn and Daryn Smit and although he did not have much success with the bat, he showed promise. On that basis, he was also included in the ODI squad in January 2013.
Firdose Moonda