'I have a master's degree in cricket'

In his interview with Quinton de Kock for the Cricket Monthly, writer Daniel Gallan encounters a player who has an intuitive feel and an immense love for the game, but who isn't consumed by it. De Kock has long been mocked for his apparent lack of intelligence, but what you'll find is an articulate, candid and a very quotable player. These are some the best quotes from the interview.

"Captaincy isn't exactly rocket science."
Cricket isn't complicated for de Kock

"I didn't need school or university to get where I am today. We joke in the dressing room that I might not have graduated from high school but I have a master's degree in cricket."
Intelligence comes in all forms, as de Kock can show you

"Defining someone like Quinton de Kock as unintelligent is perhaps the most unintelligent comment that a person can make."
Or take coach and mental-skills trainer Paddy Upton's word for it

"It was necessary to stand up to Warner, who is just a bully, but I wasn't proud of it either. It's not the person I want to be and I've worked hard to not repeat past behaviours."
De Kock on the stairwell stoush with David Warner in Durban last year

"Facing a Mitchell Johnson bouncer is tame by comparison [to wrestling tiger fish in the Zambezi river]. "Pulling in one of those monsters is the greatest adrenaline rush you can experience."
Um, okay, if you say so, Quinny

"I was heartsore and angry. [Being dropped] felt like the first time you get dumped by your girlfriend."
Naturally gifted and successful from a young age, de Kock struggled when he was dropped from the South African team in 2015-16

"The way he responded to getting dropped told me that he would one day retire as a superstar."
Team-mate Stephen Cook predicts a glittering career

"Next time I play him I'm going to hit him backward of square."
De Kock told him team-mates about playing Nathan Lyon, after which he made 97 runs from 115 balls against Lyon (a total of three 50+ scores in five innings) in Australia in 2016-17 without being dismissed by the bowler even once

"If I'm in the right space I can see what will happen before it does but there is no formula for how I do that. I couldn't teach anyone how to do it."
De Kock can't explain the method behind his genius

"I'm never going to be the head boy. I'm a little outside the box and I enjoy being a little different to people."
De Kock explains his non-conformism

"Rahul [Dravid] said to me that what we were witnessing was the act of a genius. He said that we, as South Africans, did not appreciate just how good this guy was. I had goosebumps when Rahul told me this. It was an incredible moment."
Upton recalls what Dravid said after watching de Kock in the nets for Delhi Daredevils in the IPL