De Kock 'the closest to Gilchrist' we've seen

Ashes-winning captains Ricky Ponting and Michael Vaughan have paid South African Quinton de Kock the ultimate compliment, declaring him the closest wicketkeeper-batsman to Adam Gilchrist since the legendary Australian retired in 2008.

Gilchrist famously transformed the role of a keeper-batsman in Test cricket, plundering 17 centuries and 26 fifties during his eight-year career at a strike rate of almost 82, predominantly batting at number seven in the order.

Vaughan admitted that comparing 23-year-old de Kock to the great Gilchrist was a "big shout" given the latter's status as one of the greatest players of all time, but both former skippers said the South African's clean striking reminded them of the legendary gloveman.

"He's probably the closest keeper-batsman to Adam Gilchrist that we've seen since he retired," Ponting told BT Sport.

"Just the way he's able to come in and really dictate to the bowlers the way he wants to play.

"He plays off the front foot, he's strong off the back foot, but it's the rate that he scores at that's the most impressive.

"He slots into that No.7 spot perfectly for the South African team. It's class batting, really."

Having watched the left-hander post scores of 84 and 64 in the first Test against Australia in Perth, Vaughan agreed.

"It's a big shout because there's been some outstanding wicketkeeper-batsmen and Adam Gilchrist led the way," the former England skipper said.

"But I think he's the closest to Adam Gilchrist, I really do.

"The way he plays, the way he naturally comes out and attacks the opposing bowler and puts him under pressure. It's very, very similar to Gilchrist."

Another of Gilchrist's former skippers, Steve Waugh, recently told cricket.com.au's The Unplayable Podcast that Gilchrist changed the game more than any other players he'd played with or against in his career.

"He definitely changed how ‘keepers are perceived now and if you do that that means you’ve had a big impact on the game," Waugh said.

"He’s put a lot more pressure on ‘keepers because they’ve got to be great batsmen now so they probably all hate him. To do that is pretty incredible."

While Kumar Sangakkara, AB de Villiers and Brendon McCullum all starred with both bat and gloves during their distinguished careers, most of their best performances as batsmen came as top-order players.

But in the past decade, the likes of India's MS Dhoni, Australia's Brad Haddin, England's Matt Prior and more recently Pakistan's Sarfraz Ahmed and England's Jonny Bairstow have all thrived with the bat in the lower order, a position Gilchrist dominated during his time in the game.

De Kock now averages more than 50 from 10 Tests batting at either No.6 or No.7 in the order, while he also posted scores of 82 and 50 in one Test as an opener earlier this year.

De Kock regularly opens the batting in one-day cricket, as Gilchrist did throughout his career, and former England skipper Kevin Pietersen commented earlier this week that the Proteas should have selected the left-hander at the top of the order for this first Test in Perth.

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The baby-faced de Kock has hammered 16 fours and three sixes at the WACA this week, a display of blistering strokeplay that would come as no surprise to the Australians.

Steve Smith's men were blasted for 16 fours and 11 sixes in de Kock's record-breaking innings of 178 in the recent ODI series in South Africa, with even the Aussie skipper in awe of the Proteas star after the match. 

"It was one hell of an innings,” said Smith, who was one of a number of Australians who rushed to congratulate de Kock upon his dismissal.

"I thought we started off quite poorly with the ball ... and from there it just looked like he got in a rhythm, and it felt like every ball was going to the boundary at one point."

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