Markram sure Proteas have more to give

THE West Indies and South Africa find themselves in very similar positions heading into the second Test, despite being on opposite sides of the result in the first match.

They are both trying to maintain an even keel – in the Proteas’ case, not wanting to get too high after winning that opener so comprehensively, and for the home team, not wanting to get too down on themselves.

They are inexperienced teams, a point emphasised by both Aiden Markram and Jason Holder this week. The Windies had started feeling good about themselves when a young side went to Bangladesh in February and surprisingly won a series there. The South Africans have generally felt and looked flat, but perhaps the appointment of new captains has felt like an opportunity for a restart.

Naturally, the Proteas will feel good about themselves after taking less than two and half days to win the first Test. But to hear the players and coaches explain it, they are still very much a work in progress. That win was the team’s first away win for four years.

“It will have re-instilled belief in the guys, just knowing we can still win away from home,” said Markram, who was brought in as a non-playing squad member in 2017 when SA last won an away Test by beating England in Nottingham.

There is still a series on the line, and an opportunity for the Proteas to wipe another depressing statistic off the board should they avoid defeat in the second Test that starts tomorrow, also at the Daren Sammy Cricket Ground in Saint Lucia, but on a different pitch.

“It’s about having a set standard for us as players and as a team for us to live by,” said Markram.

“It doesn’t matter the result, if you win or lose the game, because if you’re operating at the standard we’ve set as a team, then more often than not you’ll get good results.

“We’re pretty inexperienced, so the only thing we can measure ourselves against is the standards we set for ourselves.”

The standard they set in that first Test win last week was quite high.

“It will be tough to better that performance,” Markram said.

However, being a new team, with a captain, Dean Elar, who has stated he wants to push the benchmark, means that a big part of the challenge ahead of the second game is to find ways to improve.

“I’m hoping we’ve got more percentage in terms of being better for the next Test,” Markram said.

“I’m positive we’ve got something more in us.”

Holder has called for patience from the public in the Caribbean ahead of the second Test.

“We have a relatively inexperienced batting line-up,” said the former West Indies captain, ranked the best all-rounder in Tests.

“There are guys who are looking to re-engage with Test cricket and others trying to engage in the Test arena. All these things add up. We need to be a little bit more patient. We’ve seen what they can produce, with the performances just in the recent past.”