I'm no Gilchrist, says de Kock

South African wicketkeeper plays down comparisons with Australian legend

HOBART: South African Quinton de Kock played down comparisons with destructive wicketkeeper-batsman Adam Gilchrist as he continued to flay Australia's bowlers on Monday.

The 23-year-old wicketkeeper blazed his second Test century to help give the Proteas a potential match-winning 241-run innings lead over the Australians in the second Test on Monday.

By stumps on the third day in Hobart, the Aussies had whittled that lead down to 120 runs with two days remaining.

The swashbuckling de Kock has been likened Australian gloveman Gilchrist, who revolutionised the wicketkeeper-batsman role with 17 Test centuries, often turning matches with his prodigious hitting.



But de Kock played down the comparison after pounding 104 off 143 balls, including 17 boundaries.

"I don't try to play like him, it's just the way I play," De Kock told reporters. "I don't see myself being like him, I just see the ball, hit the ball type thing, have my own certain game plan. So that's the way I like to play."

De Kock's stand of 144 with schoolboy friend Temba Bavuma was the highest by a visiting team in Hobart for the sixth wicket.



De Kock has now scored 540 runs in the current calendar year for an average of 80, which is the best in the year so far.

"Some days I can get off to a good start and keep a good momentum for the team, and some days I am going to need to grind it out," said De Kock. "The conditions determine how I play, I guess."

De Kock became only the fourth South African to score 50 or more in five consecutive Tests after he swept spinner Nathan Lyon for four over wide mid-on. He is averaging 84 in the current series batting at number seven following scores of 84 and 64 in the crushing first Test victory in Perth.