Aiden Markram was back with a bang as he notched up a marvellous ton at his home ground in Centurion.
That’s back-to-back hundreds at Supersport Park across formats.
“It’s nice to play at your home venue and get a few runs,” said Markram to Mark Nicholas at the end of Day 1.
He continued, “Different formats and very different approaches but it’s been quite a while since a red-ball hundred for myself personally so very happy to have got over that mark today.
“The biggest one (emotion) was a sense of relief and a little bit of belief as well to know you can still compete in this format at this level so thoroughly enjoyed it and I’m just grateful it worked out.”
Markram scored a hundred in the SA20 recently and we saw how much that meant to his father who had tears in his eyes, and on Day 1 of the Test against West Indies he scored his 6th Test hundred after a 23-match drought in the format. Markram was not part of the contingent that toured Australia in December 2022-January 2023.
“It might’ve been a good thing. It felt like today started on a clean slate. Things work out weirdly at times. Obviously it was heart sore to not be in Australia. We as batters need runs on the board and if you’re not scoring runs in a team that wants to compete and be the best in the world, your position should be under scrutiny.
“It might have worked out nicely in hindsight but extremely grateful to be back in the mix again.”
He’s been in superb form in the shorter formats especially in the 20 over format and recently won the inaugural SA20 with the Sunrisers Eastern Cape. In doing so he’s been rewarded with leading the Sunrisers Hyderabad in the Indian Premier League in just over a month.
Aiden Markram has been recalled to the red-ball scene and one would assume he would’ve been under immense pressure to cement in his place this time.
After his blissful start to international cricket or rather Test cricket in particular, he had a slump and struggled with the transition between formats.
It was a tough couple of months for the opener although it wasn’t a case of being out of form, he just couldn’t make his starts count in the whites.
“I was fighting him (his mind) a bit to be honest. It meant quite a lot to me, it’s been a strange journey, just grateful that it worked out.”
Markram looked in complete control today, he oozed confidence and played a series of glorious shots including his mesmerising cover drive that could possibly end up in a museum.
He was calm and composed and kept his cool after getting himself in.
