Ngidi sounds De Kock's fire-starting warning: They know what happens when he's firing

Proteas seamer Lungi Ngidi underlined the importance of Quinton de Kock's blazing starts, saying the opposition knows exactly what's coming once the 29-year-old fires.

De Kock's unbeaten 47 off 18 balls in Monday's game against Zimbabwe in Hobart took the Proteas very close to an opening tournament win.

The rain got in the way, but the urgency of De Kock's batting meant SA more than made a fist of their unloaded dice before the rain intervened.

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Ngidi said that as a team, the importance of De Kock's starts wasn't lost on them and they understand when he gets good balls early.

"We all know the importance of Quinton de Kock. He's a world-renowned cricketer," Ngidi said.

"He opens the batting, and he knows that's an important position to occupy. He has an important role in our team.

"We expect him to do well, but cricket happens and everyone goes through bad patches. We saw the other night what happens when Quinton is on fire.

"The other teams are well aware of what can happen when he's firing on the day. He's well aware of his role in the team."

Ngidi hopes they can take their performance momentum into their second game against Bangladesh at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Thursday.

Ngidi said they were up for that game and they were competing for every available point in the tournament.

"From the energy we had, the guys were really up for the game," Ngidi said.

"We saw by the way that Quinton played that the guys are here to compete and to win, so that's our tournament mindset.

"It's not nice to start with a nine-over game, but it was better than nothing. We got momentum from it and the mistakes we made there, we'll fix in the next game."

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