Markram's Bannerman Moment
The beauty of sport is that once in a while, the athletes do something amazing
Once in a while…
Aiden Markram leaned back to create a little more room for himself and carved the short delivery from Jasprit Bumrah over the fielder at point. The boundary took his score up to 98. Bumrah was bowling to a plan, so he replicated the line and length of the previous delivery: short and outside off. Markram chose not to go for the same shot and instead rode the bounce to steer the ball behind point for four more runs to bring up his seventh Test ton.
It was a special ton, one that belongs in the Bannerman league. In 1877 Charles Bannerman opened the batting for Australia in a Test match against England in Melbourne. He smashed 18 fours in his 285-minute stay at the crease for his unbeaten 165. He could have become the first player to carry his bat in international cricket, but unfortunately retired hurt before his team was bowled out.
None of Bannerman’s teammates scored 20 or more runs. Tom Garrett, who came in at number nine was the second-highest scorer for the Australians with 18 runs. Bannerman’s century was 67.34% of Australia’s first-innings score. Markram spent 164 minutes less than Bannerman for his 106. Markram’s runs were 60.22% of South Africa’s total. Dean Elgar, whom Markram saluted after reaching his hundred had the second-most runs with 12.
It is the 16th-highest percentage of runs in a completed innings in Test cricket. Only 18 batters have done a Bannerman, that is, scored 60% of the team total or more in Test cricket. 13 of those batters did it between 1877 and 1999, and Markram is the fifth batter to do a Bannerman this century.
What makes the feat even more impressive is that it came on an incredibly difficult pitch to bat on. CricViz had this to say, ‘Of the 1096 Test Hundreds with ball tracking available, none have been tougher than Aiden Markram's at Newlands according to our Expected Runs and Wickets model, with an Expected Average of just 16.6 during his innings.’
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If that statistic is not impressive enough, how about this? This was the lowest-scoring match between the Proteas and India, with an average of 20.12 runs per wicket. It is the eighth-lowest average in the history of South African cricket, the second-lowest in the post-World War II era and the lowest this century.
These figures come together to tell a story of just how impressive Markram’s century was. Naturally, it slips down the order when you compare it to his other tons because it had no bearing on the result, the Proteas lost regardless of it. It is still special, nonetheless.
Markram played with clarity on a surface with more than a few demons. He drove and left with purpose. He trusted his instincts and they served him well. There were shades of his 143 against Australia in 2018 in this knock. Back then, instead of shrinking from the challenge, he stood tall and mounted a fightback against a celebrated Australian bowling attack while Warner and co did all they could to get inside his head.
At Newlands, he battled against Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj on a treacherous pitch. On a good pitch, a batter can determine a length that causes balls to misbehave and they can plan their innings accordingly. On that Newlands pitch, the entire 22 yards was a minefield. It was the kind of pitch where you knew there was a delivery coming with your name on it and couldn’t do anything about it.
He negated the threat by playing fearless cricket backed by a tight technique. To celebrate his ton, Markram raised his bat to Dean Elgar, who was animatedly celebrating his opening partner’s milestone. Over the past few years, Elgar has been the Proteas’ face of resilience and finding a way in difficult circumstances. In this Test, Elgar couldn’t find a way, but the man he helped find his feet in domestic and international cricket did.
“When I started at the Titans, there were several senior players there, but Dean is the one who took me under his wing. Kept a close eye on him, he's a guy I look up to, the way he approaches his game and his character and mindset, the sort of player that he is. Over the years we have formed a really good bond with each other,” he says.
Despite it being a century in a losing cause, Markram gave Elgar something to smile about in his final Test for the Proteas.
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Thanks for reading. Until next time… - CS