Proteas middle order batter Rassie van der Dussen says they will welcome Quinton de Kock back to the team with “open arms”.

The explosive left-handed De Kock caused an uproar on Tuesday when he made himself unavailable for SA’s second ICC T20 World Cup match against the West Indies after the Proteas players were ordered to take the knee.

De Kock apologised on Thursday and Van der Dussen, who is one of the Proteas players to show solidarity with the Black Lives (BLM) movement by taking the knee, said they will welcome him back.

“'Quinny' (De Kock) is one of the best players in the world, of course the team will welcome him back with open arms,” said Van der Dussen, as SA prepared to take on Sri Lanka in their third match of the tournament at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium on Stadium.

“It is not even the case of him asking us. I mean, we understood why he did what he did and it is the end of the story. If he is selected, and I am sure he will be, he will come back and it will be like nothing ever happened because nobody held any grievances against him.

“He will just come back and hopefully it will be like it always was and he can be in the right frame of mind to deliver match-winning performances like he has done for so many years.

“He is a valuable player to the team and having Quinny on the field as our brother, our friend and our world-class player will be good.”

Van der Dussen said De Kock is remorseful for the episode that divided people in the country.

“Quinny is extremely remorseful, I can say in a positive way. I think the characteristic of our team is that even though he took that decision, everyone understood why he took it.

“We have always supported him, even though the timing might not have been great and it was a bit chaotic in the build-up to the match, but we all understood and supported him.

“And I think that speaks volumes about where we are as a team, the squad and the management, where we don’t judge but we accept and we expect everyone to think for themselves.

“The team is always an open environment to anyone who is a member. He didn’t even have to explain to us really. We sort of accept everyone as they come, we have come a long way and our team is a safe space for the guys.”