Quinton de Kock is not playing the T20 World Cup game against West Indies due to personal reasons, and the reasons are now official.
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South Africa were to set to meet West Indies in their second Super-12 game of the season. However, at the toss when Bavuma revealed that De Kock will not play due to personal reasons, this news shocked everybody.
“Quinny [Quinton de Kock] is out and Reeza [Hendricks] is in. He [de Kock] has made himself unavailable for personal reasons,” Bavuma said.
However, the reason is now revealed and Cricket South Africa did issue a formal release about the incident.
Why Quinton de Kock is not playing?
De Kock was one of many South African players who have not been taking the knee before the game. The knee has been taken to support the BLM movement, which is solidarity towards fighting racism. For this game, the South African board made it mandatory for all players, but Quinton de Kock refused to do so. On June 12 this year, Quinton was asked the same question that why is he not taking the knee. Quinton replied, “My reason? I’ll keep it to myself. It’s my own, personal opinion. It’s everyone’s decision; no-one’s forced to do anything, not in life. That’s the way I see things.”
The South African board has issued an official statement for the same. “Cricket South Africa (CSA) has noted the personal decision by South African wicketkeeper Quinton de Kock not to “take the knee” ahead of Tuesday’s game against the West Indies,” the statement read.
“All players had been required, in line with a directive of the CSA Board on Monday evening, to “take the knee” in a united and consistent stance against racism,” Cricket SA continued. “This is also the global gesture against racism that has been adopted by sportspeople across sporting codes because they recognize the power of sport to bring people together.”
“The Board will await a further report from team management before deciding on the next steps. All players are expected to follow this directive for the remaining games of the World Cup.
“CSA thanks all other Proteas players for agreeing to unite and make such an important public stand against racism.”
The International future of Quinton de Kock is now uncertain.
