Sauce's return
Aiden Markram has found his Test cricket form again
Day One: Aiden Markram 115 (174)
There is a lot of waiting involved in cricket. For example, batters spend a long time on their bums waiting for the opportunity to bat. Fans spend hours tuned in to the game's languor, its quiet and long rhythms, waiting for a wicket, a milestone, or a moment of brilliance.
In recent years, South African cricket has had to wait a little bit longer than most for things. They have to wait for almost a year for a 100-run opening partnership. The last 100-run opening partnership for South Africa in Test cricket before today was 113 by Dean Elgar and Sarel Erwee against Bangladesh in Durban last year. The wait would have been longer if Jermaine Blackwood had held on to a catch in the ninth over.
After 8.2 overs Dean Elgar loosely went at a Kyle Meyers outswinger. He edged it to third slip for a regulation catch. Jermaine Blackwood made a mess of it. South Africa should have lost their first wicket on 25, Dean Elgar on 10. He scored 71 and put together a 141-run opening partnership with Markram.
Today's ton is the third 100-run opening partnership in the last 35 innings and 4th in the previous 78 innings.
South African cricket has had to wait a little longer for Aiden Markram to do well in Test whites. Two years. Markram last went past the 50-run mark in February 2021.
When he came out to bat, Markram was making a return to the Test side after being dropped on the back of a series of failures. In his last 10 innings, Markram averaged 16.4 runs. That is a long way from Aiden Markram who averaged 55.55 after his first 10 innings. He has had a torrid time in whites.
There is a group of Proteas fans who blamed Temba Bavuma each time the team didn't do well. There is another group that frowns and is loud against what they view as preferential treatment extended towards Aiden Markram. When Markram was moved to number 4, they said the Proteas were bending over backwards to accommodate a player who is not good enough.
After he was dropped, this group was almost certain that Markram's Test career was finished. When Shukri Conrad announced that Markram would be opening the batting with Elgar, I am sure they contemplated a march to the CSA offices demanding Conrad's head on a platter.
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From the outside, it might look like Markram has indeed had a charmed international career. But, the flip side is that he has had to deal with a huge weight of expectations. That creates a bumpy road of a different nature.
Markram was considered to be South Africa's Test captain-elect almost immediately after his international debut. At 23, he was handed the armband against India. It was all a little too much too soon. Markram spent his early years trying to contort himself into whatever shape everyone expected him to be.
Despite all their scathing criticisms, the anti-Markram brigade could never be as hard on Aiden Markram as Aiden Markram is hard on himself. During his high school years, the one place you would find Markram after a dismissal was in the nets working on the shot that got him dismissed. He would spend hours working on that single shot.
"If he made a mistake, Aiden wanted to make sure he rectified that mistake," says Namibia head coach Pierre de Bruyn. De Bruyn was Markram's next-door neighbour and coach at Tuks, at the University of Pretoria. "I couldn't ask for more from him, his commitment, hard work and his discipline was more than a coach could ask for."
When he was 18, he shared with those close to him that he was giving up cricket. He had decided that after school, he would hang his bat. He had failed to make the Coke Week team. "He said if I can't make it to Coke Week, how can I make it to the top?" De Bruyn recalls.
It took de Bruyn talking him out of the decision. Together they drew up a plan that balanced his varsity studies and training and worked to get his game up to standard. Markram went on to win the 2015 Varsity World Cup in India as captain with de Bruyn as coach.
In 2019, he punched either the wall or a door in India, frustrated with himself for not reviewing an lbw decision. Replays later showed he was not out. Unfortunately, he had walked. "He is still as hard on himself," says de Bruyn.
In today’s innings, Markram was kinder to himself. He allowed himself to enjoy the game at his home ground in front of his family and friends. He was not tentative. When you get tentative you dig a hole for yourself. Markram was looking confident, and nothing like the uncertain batter he was in recent times.
He even had the anti-Markram brigade applauding him.
His performance brought back memories of Aiden Markram that scored centuries against Australia. He was looking calm and much more organized. Back to the old Aiden. In the recent past, he got himself lbw playing across the line or got caught in mid-wicket. Today, he looked technically sound and his aggression was well-controlled.
Aiden Markram hasn't looked this good in a long time. His balance was good. His mindset was good. He waited for the bad deliveries and punished them. Besides the one time when he seemed to be trying to force things shortly after the tea break, Markram was playing good cricket. Square drives, back foot drives, cover drives. His innings was pure batsmanship.
His partnership with Tony de Zorzi was a case study of leadership. He played the role of the senior batter perfectly. For his part, de Zorzi looked at home in the middle.
It's taken Aiden Markram two years and 24 days to score a century. And when it came, his face told a few stories. The first was a relief. Then there was a joy. Finally, there was belief. He was confident at the start of his innings, now he was firm in the belief that he can still compete at Test cricket level.
His 115 from 174 might determine the outcome of this first Test. Most importantly, Aiden Markram is smiling in Test cricket whites again.
