SA’s batting sees the future He has the ability to take on more than most guys can
With his century, Markram joins the ranks of the Aussie-rattlers
● Aiden Markram’s supporters need to know that the answer to the meaning of life, the universe and everything is 164.
It’s how long Markram has been a senior international player: 164 days.
If it seems like he’s been part of the national cricket conversation for longer, that’s because he has. Few outside the subculture of schools cricket knew Markram’s name before he captained South Africa to triumph at the 2014 Under-19 World Cup.
Suddenly everybody knew who he was, and they will for decades yet — not least because of the 143 he scored at Kingsmead last Sunday.
That the century was not Markram’s maiden hundred but his third mattered less than the fact that he scored it against Australia, and in a match taut with tension and prickly with pressure.
So much so that when he scrambled the single to reach three figures he thought of …
“Not a lot,” Markram said. “Quite a bit of a relief, if anything.
“I can’t tell you exactly how I was feeling, but there wasn’t a lot of happiness because we were in a tough position.”
Australia’s stranglehold never eased and they won by 118 runs early on the fifth day. But there’s no erasing Markram’s hundred from the record books nor from his growing bank of experience.
“To have got it against Australia, playing them for the first time, was very special.
“A hundred in a losing cause is never nice, but batting through most of that [fourth] day did a lot for me. There’s a lot of pressure in international cricket and this is a big series, and to have started it well has taken some of that pressure off.”
Only eight tests into his career, Markram knows a truth that will serve him well however much he and others believe he is set to play at the highest level for exponentially more than 164 days: “It’s important to perform. You can’t play on reputation. Performances are what count.”
And performances define players.
Would Faf du Plessis have become South Africa’s captain had he not gutsed it out for more than a day to score an undefeated 110 on debut to help South Africa draw the Adelaide test in November 2012?
Would Jacques Kallis have become the rock around which South Africa built their batting for 18 years — and not the flashier player he clearly had the talent and skill to be — had he not withstood everything Shane Warne and his cohorts flung at him to make 101 in Melbourne in December 1997 in his 10th test innings?
Australia tend to bring the best out of our players, and Markram has joined the club.
At 23, didn’t he want a few years of playing with the freedom of youth before settling down to the relative domesticity of keeping South Africa’s top order in one piece?
“We’re fortunate to have senior players with a lot of experience in our side. They keep encouraging me to stay in my game plan for long periods. I don’t think it will get to a stage where my role will have to change.
“Maybe one day my responsibility will become more but I don’t think it will put me in a cage.” There’s little doubt about part of that, as Du Plessis confirmed in lauding Markram’s century: “It’s one of the reasons why we see potential in him to lead the team, because he has got the ability to take on more than most guys can.”
And if Markram does end up in a cage, he should rattle the damned thing.
Faf du Plessis Proteas captain