De
Kock,
only
29,
announced
his
retirement
from
Test
cricket
at
the
end
of
the
opening
match
against
India,
which
the
hosts
lost
by
113
runs
at
SuperSport
Park
in
Centurion
on
Thursday
(December
30).
“You
do
not
expect
anyone
of
his
calibre
to
retire
at
that
age,”
Boucher
said.
“It
came
as
a
shock.
But
we
fully
respect
his
reasons,”
local
media
quoted
him
as
saying.
De
Kock
scored
3300
runs
from
54
Tests
at
an
average
of
38.82
with
six
hundreds
after
making
his
debut
in
2014.
Boucher
said
the
Proteas
have
no
luxury
to
dwell
on
de
Kock’s
decision
but
must
instead
focus
on
the
second
Test
against
India
which
gets
underway
at
the
Wanderers
here
on
Monday
(January
3).
“He
(de
Kock)
had
a
fantastic
Test
career.
It’s
sad,
but
we’ll
have
to
keep
going,”
Boucher
said.
“We’re
in
the
middle
of
a
series
and
we
cannot
wonder
about
it
for
too
long.
We
need
to
focus
on
the
guys
who
come
in
his
place
and
hopefully,
they
can
do
something
similar
to
what
Quinny
offered
us.”
While
the
Proteas’ think-tank
knew
that
de
Kock
wouldn’t
be
available
for
the
second
and
third
Test
due
to
the
birth
of
his
first
child,
they
didn’t
expect
the
first
Test
loss
against
India
to
be
his
final
game
in
whites
for
South
Africa.
Earlier
in
the
day,
SA
Test
captain
Dean
Elgar
expressed
his
shock
over
de
Kock’s
decision
but
insisted
his
team
has
a
bigger
task
at
hand
i.e.
levelling
the
ongoing
series
against
India
with
the
second
Test,
starting
Monday
(January
3).
“I
was
pretty
shocked.
But
sitting
down
with
Quinney
(Quinton
de
Kock),
he
explained
his
reasons
and
I
respect
and
fully
understand
his
decision,”
Elgar
said
at
a
virtual
press
conference
on
the
eve
of
the
second
Test.
“I
don’t
think
there
will
be
any,”
Elgar
responded
when
asked
if
there
will
be
any
hangover
on
the
players
about
his
retirement.
“The
responsibility
for
us
is
to
carry
and
conduct
ourselves
as
international
players.
We
still
have
to
be
professional
around
this.
We
still
have
a
Test
series
to
level,
so
I
don’t
think
there
will
be
any
hangover
or
shock
over
Quinney’s
retirement.
“Players
respect
the
environment.
We
realise
that
we
had
a
few
setbacks
in
recent
times
and
we
need
to
obviously
have
to
be
clever
around
it
and
get
over
it.
I
don’t
see
this
affecting
the
players
of
still
being
shocked
about
his
retirement.”
Asked
if
it
will
set
a
dangerous
precedent
for
Test
cricket
with
talented
players
giving
up
the
red-ball
game
for
big
bucks
through
white-ball
tournaments,
Elgar
said:
“I
don’t
think
his
decision
is
going
to
jeopardise
Test
cricket
going
forward.
“His
reasons
are
his
reasons
and
his
choice
to
retire,
we
as
a
group
fully
respect
it
and
we
as
a
group
have
to
get
over
it
and
move
on
now.
“The
game
moves
on
when
guys
retire.
I
have
been
fortunate
enough
to
experience
some
of
the
big
guys
retire,
one
thing
I
realised,
the
game
doesn’t
stop
for
you,
we
have
to
get
over
it
quickly
and
respect
the
position
Quinney
is
in.”
