De Kock and Pretorius: A relationship that goes way back, and forward

Quinton de Kock's latest two ODI centuries were separated by more than a 10th of the time Lhuan-dre Pretorius has been alive.

De Kock scored 114 and Rassie van der Dussen made 133 - they put on 200 for the second wicket - to help South Africa beat New Zealand by 190 runs in Pune during the 2023 World Cup. De Kock's next hundred wasn't in the book until Thursday, when he made an undefeated 123 in an eight-wicket win over Pakistan in Faisalabad.

That's 735 days between centuries. Pretorius, who opened the batting with De Kock and shared 81 off 71 with him, has been around for 19 years, seven months and 12 days. Or 7,166 days.

De Kock wasn't out of form between those two hundreds; he was out of the game. He retired from the format after the World Cup and was also oddly absent without explanation from the T20I side since the final of that World Cup in June 2024 until October 11 this year, when he featured in South Africa's inaugural game against Namibia.

During a press conference after Thursday's game, De Kock was asked whether he would "ever regret missing two years of international cricket in this touch?"

"To be fair, no. I feel like coming back now. I've come back with a newfound energy that I think I lost over time playing so much international cricket all the time. I don't know how long I played. I think it was close to 12, 13 years."

It was 11 years, six months and nine days. De Kock made his debut in a T20I against New Zealand at Kingsmead in December 2012 - four days after his 20th birthday. He walked away a careworn cricketer, husband and father.

"I was lucky that I retired early enough so I could still make a comeback. So I don't regret it. I'm very happy to be back. I want to be back, I want to be with the guys. I missed playing with the guys, but my break did me really good - to get my hunger back and to perform in international cricket again."

The decision to return wasn't taken quickly: "The thought process wasn't an overnight thing. It took me weeks, months to really think if I wanted to make a comeback. It was months and months of delegation and thinking, asking myself questions, speaking to people.

"Even when I was in India for the IPL [from March to June this year], I didn't think I was ever going to... guys were asking me if I wanted to come back.

"At that moment, it was a straight no. Then, I don't know [when] exactly, but it just started happening. That thought process about coming back started.

"That hunger was coming back. I felt like if I was going to come back, it should be soon - to pull the trigger and ask the coach or tell the coach I'm available if he wants me back or not."

Shukri Conrad did, and here we are. Pretorius had played two Tests and 10 T20Is when De Kock returned in that Windhoek game. When Pretorius made his ODI debut in Faisalabad on Tuesday, De Kock handed him his cap. It was a poetic touch, because the pair knew each other well by then. De Kock, who is more than 13 years Pretorius' senior, is the younger man's cricket hero. Photographs of Pretorius at various stages of his boyhood and De Kock - and his younger brother Vihan, who played for South Africa's under-19 team this year - abound online.

De Kock and Pretorius go back. Now they're going forward.

"Young Lou - Lhuan-dre - made it very easy because he was playing really well," De Kock said. "And so the easy thing to do was just to try and get him back on strike because he seemed to be seeing the ball really well. That's pretty much it.

De Kock also shared 153 off 137 with Tony De Zorzi, who scored 76 off 63, and finished the job of winning in a stand of 36 off 35 with Matthew Breetzke. The valuable simplicity of his approach to batting with Pretorius - and indeed to most things in life, cricket included - informed those partnerships.

"We don't really have a set strategy," De Kock said. "We try and play the situation that's in front of us on the field. There's no set plan.

"As partners out there, we spoke about shot selection; what we were looking for in order for us to dominate. From the side it looks like we're just hitting sixes [De Kock launched seven of South Africa's 11], but there's a thought process to it. It's not like we're just having a go. It's about how we are going to be able to get those boundaries.

When I was out there with Tony, he did most of the batting. We said let's be as clinical as possible, and don't even think about letting them back into the game. Unfortunately he got a ball that bounced a bit and got out."

In the 35th over, with just 36 needed, De Zorzi's leading edge off Faheem Ashraf flew to point. "Then I had the same conversation with Matty [Breetzke] - just be professional here, just finish this off clinically."

But, because of the sweet story of their already established connection, the spotlight De Kock shared with Pretorius shone brightest.

"Lhuan-dre is playing really nicely. I've only seen glimpses of him in the SA20. And now playing with the youngster, I know the kid's highly talented. He reminds me a little bit of my young self. He looks nice and free; he's playing everything on merit. He's doing really well for a 19-year-old. He looks like he doesn't have pressure, like I felt at 19."

Enjoy the feeling, Lou. As Quinny has no doubt told you, it won't last.