Markram's torch
Markram's torch ignites Protea Fire
Aiden Markram rocked onto the back foot and released the trigger. The fielders hung on their heels and watched the ball race to the ropes. Markram is one of the best exponents of the back-foot drive, and when he nails it, pitch perfect, it's an ominous sign for the opposition.
In 2023, Braam Mong, the head curator at Newlands was tasked with the duty to prepare a perfect surface or something close to that. Western Province Cricket Union hadn’t hosted a Test match since the 2021-22 season and had missed out on a recent inbound tour.
However, pitch preparation isn't an exact science; sometimes you can do everything right and not get the best result. Mong did everything right and produced a surface that was deemed unsatisfactory by the ICC. Twenty-three wickets fell on day one, and the match was finished in two days. The surface was a minefield.
Markram looked like he was playing on a different strip. He reached 50 with a sensational punch in the gap between mid-off and cover. The ball was not overpitched, yet Markram made it look like it was.
He unfurled two of his trademark back-foot drives as he raced to a 99-ball century. Markram scored 106 off 103 deliveries, while the rest of the South African batting order contributed 64, and Indian bowlers added six runs to South Africa’s total in extras.
Newlands hadn’t made a triumphant return to Test cricket, but Markram had. This was his second Test series back after falling out of favour, and he vindicated Shukri Conrad’s decision to bring him back with a second century in four matches. It was, in a manner of speaking, his second chance at Test cricket.
Batting is a tough job. It's made arduous by the fact that one mistake excludes the batter from the game. Mike Brearley once compared being dismissed to little deaths. Cricket more than any other sport helps a person work through the experience of loss by virtue of forcing its participants to come to terms with symbolic deaths on a daily basis’, he wrote.
Red-ball cricket is the only format that allows batters a second take, and Markram takes his second chances seriously.
A former Laudium Cricket Club player who ran into a young Aiden Markram knows that only too well. He was fresh out of school and competing on the Northerns club circuit. Markram was dropped on two. He made Laudium pay with a masterclass on making the opposition pay by scoring an outstanding century. His match-winning score was in the upper 130s.
Most tennis players place a higher focus on placement and not power when they have to take a second serve. Their decision-making is often dictated by the desire not to double-fault and hand points to the opposition. John Isner walked a different path; his second serve was often as good as his first; he went as hard.
Markram appears to be cut from that cloth. For him, the second innings are an opportunity to try again what he should have done in the first. The century against India at Newlands in the third innings, his second innings of the match.
Four of Markram’s eight tons came in the second dig. The century against India in 2018 was a follow-up to a 10-ball two in the first innings. His 143 against Australia in 2018 came after he had managed 32 in the second innings. In 2021, Markram also followed up a 32 in the second innings with a ton (108) in the fourth innings against Pakistan.
Markram recorded several half-centuries before he registered a ton in red-ball cricket, and five of his first six 50s came in his second innings. This version of Markram serves South Africa well because his third and fourth innings runs are worth a decent percentage of the total.
His contributions are worth much more when he registers a hundred. His third and fourth innings centuries are worth their weight in gold because they come when the rest of the Proteas batting lineup fails to score much.
The imperious 136 against Australia at Lord’s in the WTC final was his fourth ton on the list of centuries after a first innings failure. The knock put him in an elite group, converting a trio into a quartet. He joined Sid Barnes (1948), Roy Fredericks (1976), and Michael Vaughan (2002) as the only openers to have scored a duck and a century in the same match at Lord's. More importantly, it contributed 48% of South Africa’s runs.
Aiden is derived from Aodh, which means "fiery" and/or "bringer of fire", and was the name of a Celtic sun god. Anyone who has seen Markram as he walks out to bat has recognised the smouldering fire that lights up in his eyes. It might be a mind trick, but it appears to be more conflagrant in the second innings, especially after a poor first innings showing.
Shukri Conrad saw it at Lord’s. During the WTC finals victory festivities, the South African coach shared that he had seen the focus, determination and fire in Markram's eyes when South Africa walked out to bat in the fourth innings. The flickering flames Conrad saw were brighter than the ambers spectators saw on the screen after Markram dismissed Steve Smith.
Aiden Markram was raised on the glory and accomplishments of the Proteas Test teams of the late 90s and 2000s. They powered his dreams. When he came of age, he was regarded as the next great South African batter. Markram was supposed to carry the torch of greatness from AB de Villiers, Hashim Amla, Gary Kirsten, Daryll Cullinan, Graeme Smith, and Jacques Kallis.
But his average is so far behind; he won't come close. Some players enjoy a perfect storm that sets them up for success, but Markram’s perfect storm spun him in the wrong direction. In 2019, he suffered a confidence crisis that elongated his sophomore slump. He holds himself to a high standard, and at some point, he pushed himself too hard, and it affected his performance. All of this happened in the pace-playing pandemic.
However, he did something that the greats before him have never been able to do. He wielded his bat like a torch in the dark and charted a path as he led South Africa to victory in an ICC final. Markram announced his intentions six balls into the fourth innings with an assured back-foot drive that carved point and cover into two islands.
It was an ominous sign for Australia. Markram played a blinder of an innings during his 383-minute stay at the crease. When he was dismissed, for 136 from 207, South Africa was six runs away from making history with five wickets in hand and too many overs to do it.
Markram lit the Protea Fire with his torch.