Woakes in awe of de Kock after England loss

De Kock’s 15th ODI century ultimately helped the Proteas to a comprehensiveseven-wicket win over England at Newlands on Tuesday and Woakes believes the captaincy responsibility could’ve given the 27-year-old renewed inspiration to perform even better with the bat.

“He is a world-class player. With him being captain now he has that side of his game where he wants to see it (Proteas) over the line, which might give him that extra motivation to play even better which is tough for us because we have to get him out,” Woakes said. “I have been fortunate enough to play with him as well in the IPL and he is a world-class player – we are going to have to figure out how we can stop him from scoring runs. He is obviously a big player for them, so it is important that we try and get him out early.”

De Kock’s first game as ODI captain started very well having won the toss, something which his predecessor Faf du Plessis had barely any luck with, and restricting the World Champions to an average total of 258-8 in their 50 overs.

A 173-run stand by De Kock and Temba Bavuma guided South Africa over the line to take a 1-0 series lead ahead of Friday’s second ODI in Durban. Woakes, though, feels there is no time for both camps to get complacent in such a short series and that the England team will put Tuesday’s loss behind them as soon as possible.

‘White-ball games generally come thick and fast nowadays – there is no time to feel sorry for yourself while on the other side you don’t want to get on a high when you’ve won the game. You are back in performance mode in a couple of days’ time. We can take some positives from the game and we will try and put it right in Durban,’ said the 30-year-old.