England’s destructive wicketkeeper-batsman Jos Buttler has showered rich praise on his South African counterpart, Quinton de Kock, ahead of the white-ball series in the rainbow nation later this November.
The world champions are set to face South Africa in three ODIs and as many T20Is from November 27 to December 9 – the series will see a great contest between the two prolific openers and wicketkeepers for their respective teams Buttler and de Kock.
While the two are seen as one of the most major attractions of the limited-overs series, England vice-captain feels Proteas captain De Kock will be the “real danger man” for the touring side that left for Cape Town on Monday (November 16) for the series.
The Englishman has also admitted that he is a huge fan of “fantastic” de Kock while calling himself one of his “favorite players in the world”, saying the Proteas skipper has an excellent cricket brain.
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Buttler told reporters, “I’m a huge fan of his. He is a fantastic player with an excellent cricket brain. I really enjoy how he views the game and looks to take it on. He is one of my favorite players in the world at the moment, and is brilliant with the bat and as a wicketkeeper.”
He further added, “Having played against him, he's incredibly difficult to keep quiet with the bat, I enjoy his wicketkeeping style as well, he's a fantastic wicketkeeper. He's a brilliant player and he'll be a real danger man for South Africa on this trip.”
Meanwhile, Buttler said winning the upcoming white-ball series in South Africa is England’s ultimate goal, but they would also use the series to build-up momentum and firm up their plans for the upcoming two T20 World Cups in 2021 and 2022.
The 30-year-old further explained, “To go and win the series is the ultimate aim. We're obviously building towards a World Cup but one thing that we did very well in 50-over cricket was a win and learn at the same time building into a tournament so, of course, winning gives you confidence.”
He signed off by saying, “One thing we had in the 50-over World Cup was that the team nearly picked itself by the end of that cycle and that is a great place to be as a side, it gives a lot of confidence to the guys playing a lot of games with each other so then heading into a tournament, in high-pressure situations, you're very familiar with your own role and what you expect of your team-mates.”
(With Sky Sports Inputs)
