Africa-Press – South-Africa. JOHANNESBURG – Do South Africa’s Test matches against Sri Lanka over the next fortnight represent a second coming for Aiden Markram?
It’s only three years since he made his Test debut, but in terms of living up to the hype following the success of the South African under-19 team in 2014, which Markram led, he’s managed to do so just fleetingly, unlike the premier fast bowler from that team.
Kagiso Rabada is already ranked among the top tier quicks in international cricket. Markram however isn’t in a similar bracket as far as international opening batsmen are concerned. He was for a bit, in that summer of 2017/18 when Virat Kohli dished out love for the 26 year old right hander on social media, and when he stared down the ‘pre-sanderpaper’ boorish Australians to make a high quality second innings century, albeit in a losing cause at Kingsmead.
A quieter version of Australia greeted him in the last Test of that series at the Wanderers, where scored an outstanding 152. The cricketing world was his oyster. And then it seemingly soured. In 10 Tests since then, he’s gone past 50 just three times, with a highest score of 90, against Pakistan at the Wanderers in January 2019.
He’s had problems with Rangana Herath in Sri Lanka, virtually all the Indian bowlers last year, lost a battle with a wall in Pune after making ‘a pair’ and then broke a finger in the first Test against England last summer.
A return to form domestically saw him force his way into the World Cup squad, where he batted in each of the top four spots, but like so many of his Proteas teammates, made no impression.
And now he’s back in the fold. Domestic form has been rewarded and in Markram’s case that form has been sensational. He averaged 77.41 in the Domestic Four Day Series this season and made three consecutive hundreds – all at SuperSport Park the venue for the first Test. “It’s been nice to spend a bit of time in the middle in franchise cricket and to take a little bit of confidence from that.”
Everyone now knows Markram can manage at domestic level, for him it’s about taking that domestic form and transferring it to the next level. “It’s nice to know I’m moving well and things are getting back a bit to where they were 18 months ago. I won’t be thinking about form. It’s important to start level again…if selected.”
Discipline will be the key. Markram is a naturally aggressive player with all the tools to dominate an opposition attack – like he did the Australian one of Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, Pat Cummins and Nathan Lyon, just two years ago.
Reflecting on those successes was something Markram spent time doing during the lockdown, hoping to recapture what worked well for him there and utilising it to reignite his batting. “The time off was great in that respect, I looked at those things that helped me in the past, cleared the mind, got rid of all the clouded thoughts and got clarity on batting and game plans moving forward.”
Hopefully it wasn’t only Markram who did that. South Africa’s batting in the last few years has been the side’s achilles heel. Last summer only Quinton de Kock and Dean Elgar scored centuries, both came in the first Test against India. There were no hundreds made against England at all.
That is something that needs to be rectified against Sri Lanka over the next couple of weeks, and Markram will be back in the spotlight in that regard. His second opportunity providing him with a chance at getting his career back on track, in the manner so many had forecast for him.
@shockerhess
IOL Sport
