South Africa rock around de Kock

Quinton de Kock picked up a length delivery from Josh Hazlewood and lap-pulled it to fine-leg, with the intention of hitting it for six. But he hadn't quite got hold of it as well as he wanted to, and the ball flew in something-like-catchable range towards the boundary, where Mitchell Marsh tore in from deep square-leg and then had to backpedal. De Kock held his breath. Marsh tumbled over. And the ball went over the line.

In another era of South African cricket, a batter who got away with something like that would put the shot away for the rest of the innings and, if they felt strongly about it, practice it in the nets before bringing it out again. Against Australia, de Kock shadow-batted the same stroke even as Hazlewood walked back to his mark, and played it again off the next ball. This time, Hazlewood went a touch shorter, de Kock got more bat on it and Marsh didn't bother trying to catch it. It was a certain six and allowed de Kock to show off a batting blueprint that has evolved over the course of this year.

"We are trying to be more clever with our options," de Kock said afterwards. "I said to Rassie (van der Dussen) that I felt like a lap could go for six because there was so much pace and bounce, but the first time I tried it, Hazlewood followed me. I got half a bat on it and it went for six and I was very lucky. Rassie said to me to still keep looking to go up if it's the length to do it. That was the thinking behind the shot selection. We are always trying to find different ways to score runs."

In their first two matches at this World Cup, the contrasting approaches of South Africa's batters have been a good example of what de Kock described.

In Delhi, against Sri Lanka, where the straight boundaries were short, they targeted hits down the ground and Aiden Markram's drives were the highlight of that performance. In Lucknow, where the square boundaries were shorter, the cut, the slice, the sweep, the reverse-sweep and the variants of the pull were on display and de Kock was the player who exhibited that best. He became the second South African after AB de Villiers in 2011 to score back-to-back World Cup centuries and is fast reminding us why he is among the best left-hand batters in the ODI game.

Since the last World Cup, only Tamim Iqbal (who isn't at this tournament) has scored more runs against pace bowlers and is the fourth-highest run-getter against spin. David Miller is first on the second list, with Sean Williams and Kushal Malla at second and third, and also not at the World Cup. That two South Africans are so high up should tell you that they continue to myth-bust on their capabilities against spin. That de Kock is so dominant also tells you how and why South Africa's batting has become such a talking point at this tournament, which will be de Kock's last in ODI cricket. He's saved his best for it, and maybe it should come as no surprise that Lucknow is where he showed off the best of it.

That's where his IPL franchise Lucknow Super Giants are based. And even though he was kept out of the starting line-up for the bulk of their 2023 campaign, in favour of Kyle Mayers, and the square has been relaid since, he would have been around the venue, sat in team meetings, watched games and studied the dimensions of the ground. His knowledge of the angles was evident, not only in the sixes he hit but in the placement of some of his sweep shots.

De Kock only hit five sixes in his 106-ball 109, but found eight fours and also ran 37 singles and five twos in humid conditions, which speaks of how South Africa want to approach their batting and it's more nuanced than just power-hitting.

"Our top six [batters] are naturally aggressive players, although maybe Temba [Bavuma] and Rassie, when they first started, weren't as naturally aggressive as the rest of us," de Kock said. "We're all trying to build a bigger, better shot selection so we are not just stuck on one or two shots and then allow guys to bowl to us. It's not just about trying to hit sixes."

It's also not just about scoring hundreds, albeit that is a measure of success for batters but ultimately, a harsh one. If top performances are only measured in centuries, they fail many more times than they succeed. For opening batters, that is amplified because they are the ones most likely to suffer early setbacks in an innings and that was something that bothered de Kock before this tournament. He had gone 18 matches without an ODI hundred - the longest streak of his career - despite "feeling really good", and is not too sure how he has managed to turn it around. "For some reason, it just happened. I don't know how to tell you what it is. Maybe I am just taking better options."

Similarly, South Africa's bowlers have also moved away from one of the most crude measures of their ability - the speed gun - and have other ways to tell if they are performing to standard. Lungi Ngidi described the instruction he and his opening partner Marco Jansen have been given: "Start with a very high intensity, especially against guys who strike at over 100."

In Australia's line-up, that included David Warner, who Ngidi has dismissed four times in six ODIs. Just like de Kock's insider-knowledge of the Lucknow ground, Ngidi has some first-hand forensics on Warner. "I play a lot of cricket with him. I am at Delhi [Capitals, in the IPL] with him and there you pick up things when you watch guys in the nets. Sometimes they think you are not watching but you pick up things. The secret is being able to spend so much time with him."

Experience - in India and of the opposition - is one of the things that South Africa thought would give them the edge at this World Cup. So far, and it is still early in the tournament, they are proving themselves right. But they know it's way too soon to think any further than that.