Proteas ready to hit Lankans hard on quick highveld pitches – De Kock

The Proteas are looking to hit the Sri Lankans hard and early as they strive to avenge their shock 2-0 Test series defeat the last time they hosted the islanders in 2018/19, South Africa captain Quinton de Kock said on Monday.

Having enjoyed themselves on the slower and lower coastal pitches at Kingsmead and St George’s Park last time around, this time the Sri Lankans are being taken to the pace-bowling paradises of SuperSport Park and the Wanderers.

While the practicalities of having their bio-bubble for the series in Gauteng – at the Irene Country Club just outside Centurion – obviously played a part, there is also no doubt the Proteas want to play their sub-continental opposition on the highveld.

“We’re obviously all very eager to get back in the Test field, it will be a nice change of format after a lot of T20 cricket this year, and the guys are hungry and excited to see the red ball again,” De Kock said on Monday.

“We want to play clever Test cricket, be streetwise, but we want to be quite aggressive. We want to throw the first punches, in the past we’ve maybe let the other teams do that and we want to get better at that.

“They hurt us on our own grounds last time so now we want to win convincingly. Not a lot of the squad (seven of them actually) were part of that losing battle last time but we do have the memories and we obviously want to rectify that. The pitches at Centurion and the Wanderers speak for themselves, they usually have pace and bounce and get a bit up-and-down later on.

“Sometimes they do spin a bit, but the typical nature of those wickets, good pitches for cricket, is what we expect. Whether we get that or not is another thing, but we don’t feel the need to send any messages to the groundsmen.”

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South Africa’s best batsman of last year, De Kock confirmed that the Test captaincy was only a short-term option for him and the goal was to find a new long-term skipper this summer.

“The selectors told me the situation they were in and I understand where they’re coming from. It’s just for this season, not long-term, and until someone really puts up his hand for the leadership role,” De Kock said.

“I have a lot on my plate but I’m happy doing the Tests as well in the short term. I will also keep wicket in the Tests because I need to. But we are trying to get things off my shoulders and I wasn’t going to keep against England in the ODIs.

“We have young players in the squad who need to learn fast. When I see where the rest of the cricket world is, teams like Australia and India, they have solid line-ups and they have got their game sorted. We need to learn fast so we can play some structured cricket. We have to make sure that we are a step ahead when we go out on the field because (Sri Lanka coach) Mickey Arthur knows what to expect here.”

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