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South Africa’s Quinton de Kock cut a sheepish figure as he took the knee before the four-wicket win over Sri Lanka on Saturday.

It marked the conclusion to a disheartening set of events in which a one-time national hero was pilloried for a personal decision and appeared on the brink of walking out on the World Cup.

Instead, De Kock performed a remarkable U-turn following frantic talks with officials who were desperate to keep their former captain on board and to quieten the storm of attention.

South Africa 's Quinton de Kock took the knee ahead of the T20 World Cup clash against Sri Lanka on Saturday after refusing to do so earlier this week

And after taking the knee in Sharjah, De Kock scored 12 off 10 balls as South Africa skittled Sri Lanka for 142.

Given the tensions between player and management, however, you fear that this dispute is not finished. For, until now, this is a player whose flashpoints with officials and disciplinary issues have been kept out of the media.

‘He has always danced to his own tune and has never taken well to being told what to do,’ a former national assistant coach told Sportsmail.

After being reinstated into the team, De Kock did take the knee prior to the Sri Lanka match in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates 

‘He needed careful managing and the coach always had to ask himself whether Quinton was being difficult, whether it really mattered, or whether he was just being himself,’ the coach said.

De Kock, one of the world’s most destructive batsmen, was certainly being himself when he withdrew from the showdown with the Windies on Tuesday. Orders were orders and he chose to reject them.

The directive that came from Cricket South Africa’s board of directors arrived approximately five hours before the game and it infuriated De Kock. He simmered on the two-hour coach ride from Abu Dhabi to Dubai.

Earlier this week, Cricket South Africa ordered their players to take the knee following their disjointed support for the Black Lives Matter movement against Australia last week (above)

De Kock is seen on the far left here electing not to take the knee before a T20 match against Sri Lanka last September

De Kock's U-turn came after clear-the-air talks with Cricket South Africa - there were concerns that he had played his last game for his country 

Only on arrival did captain Temba Bavuma learn that the team’s best batter and wicketkeeper would not be available. ‘We were shocked and taken aback but he has his reasons and he’s an adult and stands in his own shoes, and we respect that,’ said Bavuma.

Not everyone respected it, however. On Thursday, De Kock backtracked with an apology following what he said were ‘highly emotional’ talks with team management. In it he said he was ‘perfectly happy’ to take a knee.

‘I am deeply sorry for all the hurt, confusion and anger that I have caused,’ his statement read, going on to explain he is from a mixed-race family, adding: ‘For me black lives have mattered since I was born.’

But even in his apology he could not resist focusing on the rights that he felt had been trampled over by the board.

‘I was raised to understand that we all have rights and they are important.’ he continued. ‘I felt like my rights were taken away when I was told what we had to do in the way that we were told.’

But then De Kock has always been his own man. As a teenager in South Africa’s Under 19 team he had a flare-up with head coach Ray Jennings in which he had to be pulled away from the former wicketkeeper.

De Kock decided on the coach journey to the ground ahead of the West Indies match that he would not take a knee and would not feature in the match

His replacement Heinrich Klaasen (left) did take the knee ahead of their victory on Tuesday

The 28-year-old from Johannesburg would more often than not choose a weekend camping in the bush, or walking his dogs over playing a game of cricket. He has fallen in and out of love with the game.

On the first occasion, it was a televised 50-over game for his domestic franchise team and he appeared at the crease wearing black shoes and the wrong coloured pads in protest and was quickly dismissed to a slog. The second time, he was experiencing his first significant slump in the Test team after a long season and was dropped.

South African sport in general is years behind other countries in reacting to the needs of players and De Kock is one of many who have considered quitting cricket because of it.

For now, peace has been restored in the South African camp. ‘We’ve had some time to get over everything that’s been happening,’ Bavuma said yesterday. ‘Quinton is in a much better state.’

The peace, given De Kock’s history, is not however guaranteed to last long.

De Kock has long chosen to stand while his team-mates took the knee in previous matches