England captain Jos Buttler shared where they lost soon after England’s seven-run defeat to South Africa in the Super Eights of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024. He said, “Quinton de Kock came out with a lot of intent, really took on that powerplay and we couldn’t quite match that.”

However, De Kock’s knock of 65 off 38 balls awarded him the Player of the Match award – and the England captain admitted in his press conference how impressed he had been with the batter’s performance.

Jos Buttler applauds Quinton de Kock’s batting

“That was the difference in the game,” said Jos Buttler. “The way Quinny played at the top really put us under a lot of pressure and played some great shots, and we weren’t able to match that.”

He further added that he felt that South Africa had won the game with their batting powerplay, where they scored 63/0 as well. That came after a slow start as they could only manage two in the opening over as well.

“The tougher overs from the powerplay today were from the bottom end, which de Kock really took on, took some risks, and played well,” he concluded.

Meanwhile, Quinton de Kock scored 49 runs off 20 balls in the powerplay, including maximums off Moeen Ali, Jofra Archer (twice) and Sam Curran as well. He also believed that his fast start had made a difference as well.

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“I’ve played a lot of day T20 cricket in the West Indies and generally that is the most important time to score runs,” he said.

However, South Africa’s total of 163 for 6 looked under-par as in St Lucia Australia and England both chased totals of 181 and Sri Lanka and West Indies successfully defended scores above 200 as well.

“The easier time to score runs is in the powerplay” – Quinton de Kock

But de Kock said that when he came to bat, he was clear that they would only need a slightly lower total this time as well. South Africa adjusted well to conditions with the ball, restricting England to 41 for 1 in the powerplay compared to their score of 63 for 0.

“I don’t know if the rest of the guys knew, but I had a fair sense: I’ve played here quite a bit in the Caribbean league and it’s the same thing: the wicket looks beautiful. At night, it plays most different but in the day, 160-170 are winning scores here in the day. Generally, it goes like that in the Caribbean: I think the lights and maybe a bit of dew at night help the ball skid on a bit better,” he added.

“The easier time to score runs is in the powerplay. When the ball’s old and as the wicket deteriorates, it gets harder.” Asked if that phase proved match-winning – as Jos Buttler believed – de Kock said: “There were other moments, but obviously that’s probably one of our better powerplays in this whole World Cup – so it could be,” he concluded.