Dean Elgar was 'shocked' after Quinton de Kock sudden retirement
Jan 02, 2022
Johannesburg [South Africa], January 2 : South Africa captain Dean Elgar was initially "shocked" after Quinton de Kock announced his sudden retirement from Test cricket.
De Kock, 29, on Thursday announced his retirement from Test cricket with immediate effect. Cricket South Africa (CSA) said De Kock has cited his intentions to spend more time with his growing family for the timing and reason for his relatively early retirement from the format.
The wicket-keeper batter and his wife, Sasha, are anticipating the imminent birth of their first-born child in the coming days.
The decision by the batter came after South Africa went down to India by 113 runs in the first Test at SuperSport Park in Centurion. Talking about de Kock retirement, Elgar in a virtual press conference on the eve of the second Test said: "I was pretty shocked. But sitting down with Quiney [Quinton de Kock], he explained his reasons and I respect and fully understand his decision."
"I don't think there will be any," Elgar replied when asked if there will be any hangover on the players about de Kock's retirement.
"The responsibility for us is to carry and conduct ourselves as international players. We still have to be professional around this. We still have a Test series to level, so I don't think there will be any hangover or shock over Quiney's retirement."
"Players respect the environment. We realise that we had a few setbacks in recent times and we need to obviously have to be clever around it and get over it. I don't see this affecting the players of still being shocked about his retirement," he added.