In his 50th ODI, Aiden Markram scored 175 for the Proteas in a crucial match against the Netherlands in the Pink ODI at the Wanderers.
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The Dutch bowlers took a hammering as Aiden Markram and David Miller lit up the Bullring ended powered the home side to 370-8 in a crucial last match of the South African cricket summer.
It was a coming-of-age moment for the talented Aiden Markram. He ended his incredible summer of cricket with a stunning 86-ball century before he heads off to the IPL to lead the Sunrisers Hyderabad. That caps off a brilliant 2023 for him as he scored a century in the SA20 semi-final and then went on to end his Test century drought on his return to the red-ball side.
The Proteas got off to a terrible start as Vivian Kingma removed both the openers in his opening spell before Rassie van der Dussen and Aiden Markram had to rebuild the innings.
It was a circumspect start as the pitch seemed a bit tacky and stroke play wasn’t easy upfront. Markram who came to the crease at 32 for 2 got stuck in and adapted to the conditions well but found the gaps when he could and went on to bring up his maiden ODI century in his 50th match. It was a commanding knock under pressure.
Markram shared in a 50-run stand with Van der Dussen as well as with Heinrich Klaasen whose brief stay provided great support at the other end.
At 145-4, Miller joined Markram at the crease and South Africa needed a huge partnership if they were to post anything respectable in a must-win game. After they got to their 100 and 50 respectively it was complete and utter carnage as the bowlers were tonked around. The pair raced along and entertained the crowd with a series of handsome shots.
It was the ideal situation for Miller as he came in early and had all the time to get going and scored a brilliant half-century. Once again he stepped up when the side needed him most as he’s been doing consistently for the past 2 years.
Ice packs were needed for some fans in the stands. No one was safe as the ball kept flying to all parts of the ground. Both Markram and Miller were quick to apologise to two fans that were struck. It was brutal out there, alright.
They timed the ball well and their bat-deep approach worked well as they got going when SA were 230-4 after 38 overs. They struck over 100 runs in 42 balls to finish off the innings superbly.
They shared in a blistering 199-run stand for the 5th wicket and got South Africa to 344 before Markram was caught for an astonishing 175 from 126 which included 17 fours and 7 sixes. Miller mistimed one and was dismissed for a 61-ball 91 in the following over.
South Africa were 349-6 with just over 3 overs left.
Marco Jansen (11) and the tail combined to take the Proteas to 370-8 in their 50 overs.
