Quinton de Kock announce Test retirement with immediate effect

Quinton de Kock announce Test retirement with immediate effect: South Africa?s young wicketkeeper-batsman Quinton de Kock has opted to take his test format retirement with an immediate effect. The decision, that shook the entire cricket fraternity, came after South Africa?s thumping defeat against India in their fortress Centurian by 113 runs, a day ago.

De Kock, 29, was earlier reported to take a leave in the last two test matches against India as he and his wife are expecting the birth of their first child. However, the unexpected decision came as a bouncer, as he has, now, dropped his test cap at just the age of 29.

The stumper batsman, who scored 34 and 21 runs in two test innings against India recently, said that the call was a tough one for him.

"This is not a decision that I have come to very easily," De Kock said in a statement.

"I have taken a lot of time to think about what my future looks like and what needs to take priority in my life now that (wife) Sasha and I are about to welcome our first child into this world and look to grow our family beyond that,? he added.

"My family is everything to me and I want to have the time and space to be able to be with them during this new and exciting chapter of our lives.?

"I love Test cricket and I love representing my country and all that it comes with.

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The Protea keeper made his test debut back in 2014 against Australia and has scored 3,300 runs in 54 matches. He maintained a good average of 38.82 and completed 22 half-centuries and 6 centuries during his career.

Moreover, the Protea has claimed 221 catches behind the stumps along with 11 stumpings in the red-ball format.

Though de Kock has announced his test retirement, the cricketer is committed to taking part in the white ball fixtures for the Rainbow Nation.

?This is not the end of my career as a Protea, I'm fully committed to white-ball cricket and representing my country to the best of my ability for the foreseeable future. See you in the ODIs and T20s."

It must be noted that Quinton de Kock instigated a stir back in October during the ICC T20 World Cup 2021 when he refused to take a knee before the match against West Indies.

Cricket South Africa regulated a directive according to which every South African cricketer had to take a knee against racism before the start of the match in the T20 World Cup 2021, which apparently didn't go well with de Kock who had a feeling that 'his rights were taken away.'

De Kock, later clarified that he was ?not racist,? and apologised for his actions and returned back to the field of cricket in the very next match, taking a knee before the start of the match.

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