‘One for the big occasions': Prince praises Markram for standing up

The Citizen

13 hours ago

Makram became the 13th South African player to join the honours board for scoring a Test century at Lord's.
Aiden Markram leaves the field at the close of play on day three of the World Test Championship final at Lord's on Friday. Picture: Paul Harding/Gallo Images
With the opening batter having produced what could be a match-winning century, Proteas batting coach Ashwell Prince was full of praise for Aiden Markram after stumps were drawn on day three of the World Test Championship final against Australia in London on Friday.
Returning to the crease for their second innings at the start of the afternoon session, South Africa were set a target of 282 runs to win.
At the close of play, they had reached 213/2, still needing 69 runs to secure the global title with eight wickets in hand and two days remaining.
Markram was on 102 not out and Proteas captain Temba Bavuma, who was struggling with a left hamstring strain, was unbeaten on 65.
Markram became the 13th South African player to join the honours board for scoring a century at Lord's – a list which also includes Prince.
'We know what he's capable of'
It was Markram's first Test century since January last year, and Prince said the opener had done some technical work to regain his best form, but the team had always remained confident that he was still a match-winning player.
'We certainly know he's one for the big occasions. Of that there's no doubt,' Prince said.
'He's done a little bit of technical work, not a lot. I think in the last little while he's had a bit of a tendency to push his hands away from his body, cutting across the ball sometimes.
'But it wasn't a big fix. As soon as he saw some videos of himself doing that it was quite a simple fix.
'He has already proved he has the ability to play big innings… so we know what he's capable of.'
One ball at a time
Looking forward, Prince said the Proteas were not getting ahead of themselves by focussing on the result, despite having placed themselves in a position which would see them returning to the crease on Saturday morning (11.30am) as favourites to secure their maiden World Test Championship title.
He said they would concentrate on one ball at a time in an attempt to chase down their target.
'One of the things we said before the run chase (in their second innings) is that the game will finish when it finishes,' Prince said.
'Whether that is tomorrow at lunch time, or any time, the end of the match will take care of itself.
'The important thing for us is to remain in the moment, and obviously from a batting point of view that means playing one ball at a time.'