JUST like in life, leaders of cricket teams often set the tone for their team and thus the results that they return – good or bad.
It becomes even more important for a captain in Aiden Markram’s shoes, who’s captaining a largely inexperienced South African squad away from home against an explosive team in the West Indies, to lead from the front and set a good example for the squad.
To the Proteas’ delight, going into today’s opening T20I of the three-match series (9pm SA time start), the 29-year-old is feeling mentally “sharp”, and most importantly has the hunger to lead by example today in Trinidad and Tobago.
“With a new, inexperienced team, first and foremost, I’d like to lead from the front from a performance point of view,” Markram told the media on the eve of the first T20 match in Tarouba.
“I’m pretty excited to try and do that. I’m feeling good, full of energy and mentally quite sharp. I’m really hungry to put in performances to win games.”
Luckily, Markram will be leading his young troops at the Brian Lara Stadium, a venue that has become a fortress for South Africa, having been the ground where the Proteas created history by winning their first ever World Cup semi-final exactly 58 days ago.
During that game, the wicket in Tarouba heavily favoured the bowlers as South Africa bowled out Afghanistan for just 56, with the Proteas quicks doing most of the damage on the day.
However, Markram reckons that the tables have turned as the surface now looks drier on the eve of the first match, a clear sign that the batters might have their time in the spotlight today.
“It looks like it’s going to be a lot different here. The wicket looks a lot drier, so I would assume it would play a bit better than the Afghanistan game. It’s a bit of a sigh of relief for us batters, but we’re going to have to assess out there as quick as we can and formulate plans from there,” said Markram.
“The guys have done quite a bit of homework now in meetings building up to the first game, and hopefully those plans, we’ll be able to execute.”
🇿🇦 We are back Trinidad! 🇹🇹
— Proteas Men (@ProteasMenCSA) August 21, 2024
Our players departed for the Brian Lara Cricket Academy Stadium in Trinidad, ahead of their T20 Series.🏏#WozaNawe #BePartOfIt#SAvWI pic.twitter.com/3mRjGjochf
More than anything, South Africa are treating this series as the first step in their journey to doing better in the next edition of the T20 World Cup in India two years from now.
The plans are centred around creating competition for spots within the team, to push the senior players to continue improving or risk losing their places in the side.
As captain, Markram has fully bought into that idea.
“It sounds like it’s a long time away, 18 months. But in the cricket world for some reason, 18 months goes by really quickly. It’s nice to start that journey now, and not potentially three or four months from that World Cup,” said Markram.
“It’s about getting the guys invested into really wanting to play for this T20I team.
“Hopefully there’s a bit of inspiration from our side in the previous World Cup that got the guys going and thinking that they really want to be part of this team, and can see the team moving forward.
“It’s all about pushing for places because if you have that healthy competition, it always leaves the team in a better place and can create some interesting selection meetings. That’s ultimately what you want.
“You want a pool of players that you feel any of them on their day can win games of cricket for South Africa. The journey for us starts now building up to that World Cup in 2026.”
Proteas T20I Squad
Aiden Markram (captain), Ottniel Baartman, Nandré Burger, Donovan Ferreira, Bjorn Fortuin, Reeza Hendricks, Patrick Kruger, Kwena Maphaka, Wiaan Mulder, Lungi Ngidi, Ryan Rickelton, Jason Smith, Tristan Stubbs, Rassie van der Dussen, Lizaad Williams.