Markram: we lacked intensity
MARKRAM: SA LACKED INTENSITY IN TOUR OPENER
South African top-scorer Aiden Markram said a lack of intensity was the main reason behind the Proteas’ poor batting display in their first match in Australia, as they lost by four wickets with 13-and-a-half overs to spare against a Prime Minister’s XI in Canberra yesterday.
The tourists won the toss and elected to bat, but Markram had to survive a torrid start as leftarm paceman Jason Behrendorff bowled Quinton de Kock first ball and had Reeza Hendricks caught behind two deliveries later, both for ducks, in the first over.
Captain Faf du Plessis (13) also fell cheaply to Behrendorff, but Markram went on to make an encouraging 47 off 49 balls and shared a fourth-wicket stand of 55 with David Miller, the biggest partnership of the innings.
Miller was the other batsman to do well with 45, while there were useful contributions from Dale Steyn (20) and Kagiso Rabada (28*) that pulled the Proteas up to 173 all out.
Markram said after the game: “It’s not ideal, it would have been nice to make a winning start to the tour and for the batsmen to find some form. But we were a touch rusty and not at the right intensity level.
“There are no easy games in Australia and you have to be on it and at the right intensity level to deliver the goods.
“Most obviously we didn’t string good partnerships together and you’ll never get a decent score without those. But they bowled incredibly well up front and put us under pressure.
“It was nice personally to spend a bit of time in the middle, but as a batsman it’s never enough runs. Ideally I would have liked to kick on ... but I’m happy with the time spent at the crease. Now we can all see how much work is needed.”
The chase was by no means easy for the Prime Minister’s XI and they were reduced to 87 for five, despite 21-year-old wicketkeeper Josh Philippe’s 57 off 53 balls, for which he was named Man of the Match.
But the experienced head of captain George Bailey steered the home team to victory with 51 not out, sharing a crucial stand of 77 with Jason Sangha (38).
The warm-up nature of the game was shown by Lungi Ngidi, the outstanding South African bowler on the day, only bowling six overs and taking 2/16.
There were also two wickets for Kagiso Rabada (8.3-0-41-2) and Dale Steyn bowled better than his figures (7-0-41-1) suggest.
“... there were a lot of positives and a lot of question marks.
“But we have enough time to fine-tune and make sure we hit our straps in the first ODI on Sunday. Today was a good gauge of how much work there is to be done, we were able to identify our game plans and strengths,” Markram said.