South Africa hope Markram’s career-defining knock can be match-defining, too

Aiden Markram flicked Josh Hazlewood off his pads, watched the ball roll through midwicket, then raised his arms, removed his helmet, and wiped away a tear. He might even have allowed himself to think that he was in the midst of the most significant Test century of his career, and perhaps in South Africa’s history, too.

Temba Bavuma, his partner at the other end, hung back and let Markram take it in. He watched, with what looked like nothing but deep respect, as Markram saluted the sun as it ducked behind the clouds – they did not form through the bulk of the best batting conditions. When the two batters met mid-pitch for the hug, they allowed themselves the briefest of revelries at what Markram had achieved, and you could almost hear them willing each other on. “It’s not done yet,” the fist bumps seemed to say. And it isn’t. Victory is still 69 runs away. Markram is 102 not out and there is work to do, which he knows.

But later, when there is a moment to reflect, whatever the final result, Markram’s century will be engraved into the annals of South African cricket history as one of the great fourth-innings responses. Already, Markram is second-only to Graeme Smith (who made four) when it comes to centuries in the second innings for South Africa. This one could prove more crucial than any.

It started under immense pressure for both Markram and South Africa. In much better batting conditions than the previous two days, Australia added 63 runs to their overnight total of 144 for 8. That meant South Africa would have to pull off the second-highest successful chase at Lord’s, while making the highest score of the match. Markram was coming off a duck in the first innings, when he chopped a Mitchell Starc inswinger on to his stumps, and a reckless 13 off 15 balls in the warm-up match, where he was caught flicking to square leg.

Given that only Bavuma is more experienced at Test level than Markram in this side and the task that faced South Africa, he was shouldering responsibility from the moment he padded up. He would face Starc again, this time with no swing, and his first ball was a gentle push that allowed him to get off strike. Just that tap and run was a sign that South Africa’s mindset was switched on. Unlike their first innings, in which they employed an ultra-defensive approach against high-quality bowling, this time South Africa immediately showed some intent.

Even when Ryan Rickelton nicked off early and Wiaan Mulder, under the microscope at No. 3, came in, Markram took the opportunities where he saw them. He punched Hazlewood off the back foot through the covers and got down on one knee to drive Starc square through point before playing him off his hips for a leg-side four. Markram scored 18 off the first 21 balls he faced, South Africa were 47 for 1 after ten overs, and there was impetus and energy in the chase.

But the examinations would come. Nathan Lyon was brought on in the 11th over, and immediately got one to dip and turn. Pat Cummins drew Markram’s edge but it didn’t carry and Starc had Mulder caught at cover with a ball that seemed to stick in the surface. The sternest test was when Bavuma pulled his hamstring shortly before tea and hobbled through two overs. Would Markram be able to bat alongside a struggling but vital partner? And more specifically, would Markram be able to change his game, hold himself back if needed to, so that South Africa’s best batter of the last six years could do his bit for the chase?

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At the interval, Markram “was adamant”, in the words of batting coach Ashwell Prince, that Bavuma should continue because “the partnership was key”. Markram was also well aware that he would have to curb his intensity in terms of running between the wickets “to allow Temba to ease his way through it,” Prince said.

The pair’s first post-tea run was a single off a mistimed Markram drive that took him to fifty, and it seemed the run rate might drop as Bavuma’s injury was managed. The boundaries came occasionally, Bavuma’s hobble improved in parts, then worsened, and both got through threatening spells from Hazlewood and Cummins with much tighter techniques. Markram’s in particular was more cautious than it has been recently and Prince confirmed there was a focus on playing closer to the body, especially since the opposite can happen because of a deluge of T20 cricket.

“He’s done a little bit of technical work, not a lot,” Prince said. “In the last little while, he’s just had a little tendency of his hands pushing away from his body and cutting across the wall but it wasn’t a big fix. As soon as he saw a few videos of himself doing that, it was quite a simple fix.”

There was also Markram’s traditional strength on display: his strong off-side play. He drove and cut with confidence and scored 65 runs in that area of the ground. He also got more comfortable against the turn, even though it was never easy and every ball seemed an event. Markram spent 22 balls in the 90s as tension grew. South Africa would already go to sleep with the nerves of knowing it was not over, but would Markram also clock off without reaching the milestone he had worked so hard for?

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Seven balls before the close of play, he got there, and acknowledged the moment with the right mix of celebration and seriousness. It’s done, but it’s not. He has done it, for himself, but he hasn’t done it all yet. Markram said later that he was “overwhelmed with emotion” as he looked to the London skies and let a few tears out. But he kept himself together to take South Africa to the close of play and the doorstep. He will also want to take them across it.

“We certainly know that he’s someone for the big occasion,” Prince said. “When I talk about his ability to play big innings – albeit in a losing cause [against India] at Newlands on a very, very difficult pitch – he played an unbelievable innings. Everybody else was really struggling, and he got a hundred on that surface. So we know what he’s capable of.”

That was the last century Markram scored, 16 innings ago, in the first Test of this WTC cycle. Since then, he has contributed three half-centuries, including an 89 in the Centurion Test against Pakistan where South Africa qualified for the final, but there was a sense that more that needed to come from him. As an opener, as one of the few batters with Test experience that goes beyond a season or two, and as someone who was once labelled the golden boy of South African cricket.

Markram is the only South African captain to have held a World Cup trophy aloft, when his team, which included Kagiso Rabada, won the Under-19 World Cup in 2014. Great things were expected of him from that day. His two hundreds in three Tests suggested they were coming, and his 152 against Australia in 2018 seemed to confirm it. He has since been dropped from the Test side twice, most recently for the tour of Australia in 2022-23 just before the Shukri Conrad era began. Conrad brought Markram back and he rewarded him with a century on his return. Two more came after that, the Cape Town one Prince spoke of and this one, which no one will forget.