Quinton de Kock, South Africa’s wicketkeeper-batsman, has been confirmed as Nottinghamshire’s overseas signing for four Specsavers County Championship matches towards the end of the season.
De Kock, who is expected to be in Sri Lanka with the South Africa squad next month, will be available for the trips to Hampshire and Surrey in August, as well as two home matches against Yorkshire and Essex in September.
He has been signed as a specialist batsman, with Tom Moores now established as the county’s first-choice wicketkeeper since the retirement of Chris Read last season.
De Kock, 25, made his Test debut in 2014 against Australia and has since gone on to amass nearly 2,000 runs at an average of 38.20, including a career-best of 129 not out against England.
“I’m very excited about joining Nottinghamshire and playing at one of the best grounds in the world at Trent Bridge,” said de Kock.
“I enjoyed playing in England during the 2017 tour with South Africa and I am looking forward to coming back over and putting in some good performances for Nottinghamshire.
“The team has made a brilliant start to the season in the Championship and hopefully when I come over we can be challenging for the title in the final rounds.”
De Kock endured a tricky time with the bat in the 3-1 Test series defeat against England last summer, averaging 23.12 in four matches with a top score of 68. However, his pedigree is not in question as he approaches his prime as an international cricketer.
“Quinton is a fantastic player and we can’t wait to welcome him into our squad for the Championship run-in,” said Nottinghamshire Director of Cricket Mick Newell. “He’s one of the best batsmen in the world across all formats and he will add some further firepower to our Championship batting order.
“Knowing that we only had Ross Taylor for the first three months of the season we have been working hard to secure world class replacement for the back end and Quinton certainly fits that bill.
“He’s in the same mould as Ross in the fact that he likes to score quickly and play in an attacking style and I am sure he will enjoy the late summer pitches in England.”
Overall in his first class career, de Kock has scored over 4,000 runs, with nine centuries and 27 fifties, and he is hoping to translate those numbers into further scores during his first county stint.
Source: ESPN Crickinfo