Quinton de Kock has been a man on a mission in his final World Cup. De Kock registered the highest score by a wicketkeeper-batter against Australia in ODI World Cup history. The Proteas opener scored 109 runs from 106 deliveries in Lucknow. The previous record belonged to Sri Lanka's Kumar Sangakkara who scored 104 runs against Michael Clarke-led Australia at Sydney Cricket Ground in 2015.
The only other wicketkeeper-batter to score a century against Australia in the World Cup is Mushfiqur Rahim. The Bangladesh wicketkeeper-batter scored an unbeaten 102 against Australia at Trent Bridge, Nottingham in the previous edition of the World Cup.
In Australia's opening encounter of the ongoing World Cup, KL Rahul failed to join the elusive list as he remained unbeaten for 97. Wicketkeeping greats like MS Dhoni and Jos Buttler could not do it against Australia in the mega event. Dhoni's highest is 65 whereas Buttler scored 25 in the previous edition. The England skipper will have a chance to better his record later in the tournament.
This was De Kock’s second consecutive century of the tournament. In the previous game, he scored 100 against Sri Lanka in Delhi. AB de Villiers is the only South African batter to score two consecutive centuries in the World Cup.
The southpaw also became the eighth South African batter to score 1,000 runs against Australia in ODI cricket. He is only the fourth wicketkeeper-batter to score two or more centuries in the World Cup. De Villiers and Zimbabwe's Brendan Taylor have scored two centuries each whereas Sangakkara is on top with five centuries.
The 30-year-old has scored 109 runs from 106 balls including eight fours and five sixes. He got bowled by Glenn Maxwell in the 35th over trying to play a reverse sweep.
Apart from De Kock, Aiden Markram scored a half-century whereas contributions from the lower-middle order helped South Africa post 311/7 against Australia at Ekana Cricket Stadium, Lucknow. This is South Africa's second-highest innings total in ODI World Cups.
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