News How de Kock's local knowledge helped win the powerplay, and the match The South Africa opener knew conditions in St Lucia were not the same as previous matches at night Matt Roller 21-Jun-2024 • 24 mins ago 1:21 Morkel: De Kock doesn't overthink the game Quinton de Kock attributed his match-winning 65 off 38 balls against England to his Caribbean Premier League experience, which informed his attacking intent in the powerplay. De Kock has only played seven CPL games, all of them for Barbados Royals in the 2022 season . But three of those came at the Daren Sammy Cricket Ground in St Lucia, including two day games and one under lights.
Related SA hold nerve against England to continue unbeaten march towards semis Buttler: De Kock innings 'the difference' in narrow South Africa win St Lucia elements see teams throw caution to the wind It gave him enough evidence to believe that a par score would be significantly lower in South Africa's game against England - which started at 10.30am local time - than in the previous four T20 World Cup fixtures at the venue, which were 8.30pm starts.
He also quickly realised that the powerplay would be the best time to bat, and so it proved. De Kock scored 49 runs off 20 balls in the powerplay, including sixes off Moeen Ali, Jofra Archer (twice) and Sam Curran, and believed that his fast start had made a "massive" impact. "I've played a lot of day T20 cricket in the West Indies and generally that is the most important time to score runs," h.