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Cape Town - The Proteas will be hoping to close off the South African summer on a high when they take on Australia in the third KFC T20 International at PPC Newlands on Wednesday.
The series-decider marks the end of a see-saw home season for the Proteas and a win will round off a successful limited-overs campaign after the series wins against England.
Proteas opening batsman, Quinton de Kock, says the squad is motivated to finish the season with a confident win and some momentum to take on to the ICC World T20 in India.
“We want to win,” he said to the media in Cape Town on Tuesday.
“A series win against Australia doesn’t come easily, to win against them would be great. There is a bigger picture with the World Cup coming up in India and the conditions will be different, but we want to finish off well.”
De Kock missed the series against England due to a knee injury, and stamped his return to the side with a 28-ball 44 in the five-wicket loss at the Bidvest Wanderers Stadium on Sunday. He has shared the opening role with AB de Villiers this series but says he is happy to bat where the team needs him should he be moved down the order.
“I haven’t batted down the order in a while,” he said. “If I were to move I would assess the situation and make sure that the strike-rate is at 100 percent. Normally that is how finishers go about their strategy, if it comes my way I will try and get the job done.
“There isn’t any competition,” he said when asked about Hashim Amla.
“Whoever gets into the position will do the best that is needed for the team. We want to try and win a world cup, there isn’t any competition, we both just want what is best for the team.”
The match is also the last opportunity for the management to try out other potential combinations, which could see the return of Hashim Amla, who has yet to get a game this series. The sold-out signs at Newlands went up days ago, giving local fans an opportunity to give the team a memorable send-off before they head to India on Thursday morning.
