Quinton de Kock

South Africa’s Quinton de Kock is one of his country’s most accomplished cricketers. He has twice won Cricket South Africa’s Cricketer of the Year Award and has captained the national team. In December 2021, having scored 3,300 runs and 232 catches and stumpings in 54 Test Matches, he announced his retirement from Test cricket so that he could spend more time with his wife and newborn son. However, he is still very much part of the South African limited-overs teams and also plays for both the Titans in his home country and the Lucknow Super Giants of the Indian Premier League.

De Kock doesn’t hang around when setting records. He holds four separate “fastest” records: fastest South African to score 1,000 runs in One Day International cricket; fastest wicket-keeper in the world to make 200 Test Match dismissals (in 47 games, beating a record set by fellow great, Adam Gilchrist), and the fastest South African to score a half-century in T20i cricket (scoring 50 in just 17 balls in a 2020 match against England).

De Kock was born in Johannesburg in 1992. His cricketing potential was spotted whilst he was a schoolboy, and he got his first major international chance when he became part of South Africa’s U-19 World Cup team. A talented opening batsman and wicket-keeper, he broke through into the senior squad in 2012, first as part of the T20 team and then, in 2014, as part of the Test squad. He had the honour of captaining his country in Test Cricket in December 2020.