You don’t expect anyone of his calibre to retire at that age: Mark Boucher on Quinton’s retirement

Quinton de Kock announced his retirement after South Africa’s defeat in the first Test against India

South Africa’s wicketkeeper-batsman Quinton de Kock announced his retirement from Test cricket. The announcement came after South Africa’s defeat in the first test against India in Centurion, where the visitors won by 113 runs and took a 1-0 lead in the three-match Test series. De Kock announced his retirement from Test cricket at the age of 29.

“You don’t expect anyone of his calibre to retire at that age. It came as a shock. But we fully respect his reasons,” Mark Boucher, South African head coach, said to local media.

De Kock scored 3300 runs from 54 Tests at an average of 38.82 with six hundred and 22 half-centuries after making his debut in 2014. Quinton’s highest Test score is 141 not out.

Boucher said the Proteas have no luxury to dwell on de Kock's decision but must instead focus on the second Test against India which gets underway at the Wanderers on Monday.

"He (de Kock) had a fantastic Test career. It’s sad, but we’ll have to keep going," Boucher said.

"We’re in the middle of a series and we cannot wonder about it for too long. We need to focus on the guys who come in his place and hopefully; they can do something similar to what Quinny offered us."

It was earlier reported that Quinton will miss the second and the third Test against India due to the birth of his first child. But they didn’t expect the first Test loss against India to be his final game in the whites for South Africa.