‘No concern’ for Proteas, despite West Indies series defeat, says De Kock

While he admits they were outplayed in their series defeat to the West Indies, experienced Proteas batter Quinton de Kock insists the loss is no cause for alarm on the eve of the T20 World Cup.

The SA team were handed a 16-run defeat in Kingston on Saturday evening, with their hosts taking an unassailable 2-0 series lead ahead of the third and final T20 International at Sabina Park on Sunday night (9pm SA time).

De Kock, who top-scored for South Africa on Saturday with 41 runs at the top of the order, admitted the home team had simply performed better in the first two matches of their short tour.

And though he hoped they could turn it around with a consolation win, the 31-year-old opener was unsure what changes they could make to their approach ahead of the final dead rubber clash.

“The West Indies guys are playing really good cricket at the moment, and I think maybe they’ve just had better execution in one or two things,” De Kock said.

“To be honest, it’s hard to say [what we can do differently]. I think they’re just playing slightly better cricket than us at the moment, and hopefully [on Sunday] we can come out and try do that.”

Not at full strength

However, with seven members of the World Cup squad missing from this week’s series, De Kock felt it was more important for individuals to build confidence, rather than the team showing form as a largely second-string unit.

He was also relatively unconcerned by their failure to pick up a series win ahead of the T20 World Cup, with their first match scheduled to be played against Sri Lanka in New York next week as they go in search of the Proteas’ first World Cup title.

“There are no concerns. I’m not saying it’s an excuse, but we don’t really have a full-strength team (in Kingston),” De Kock said.

“Also, in my whole international career, I think we’ve won every series going into a World Cup, and we’ve never won the World Cup. So speaking from experience, maybe this will do something good for us. Hopefully it does.

“For me [the loss to West Indies] doesn’t mean much, and hopefully the guys who are going to the World Cup will get some confidence from this series. I think that’s more important.”