Shukri Konrad delighted with Bavuma and Markram after West Indies victory

Despite a comfortable 2-0 Test series victory over the West Indies, with an 87-time victory over the Centurion and a huge 284 wins over WanderersProteas’ batting department still has a lot of work to do.

Batting Proteas Test has been in decline for several years and they were brutally exposed during their tour of Australia in December and January.

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However, they showed little improvement in their streak against the Windies. with proteins the batting department managed to post three totals in excess of 300.

But they had their own struggles at every opportunity, and often had to rely on a single batter to bail them out of trouble.

This led to Captain Temba Bavuma and Aiden Markram being potential batting department luminaries in the future.

“Daddy’s Hundred” Bavuma

Bavuma showed a terrific character to bounce back from a horror show during his debut as a captain, where he picked up a couple of ducks, with an incredible performance in the second test.

In the first innings he only made 28, but that was the best of his career 172 in the second inning which proved to be the game’s defining one, resulting in him being named Man of the Match.

“It was huge on many fronts, but most importantly for the side. This is what Temba and I talked about before the show. That second test age was burning for him, and I said, let’s forget about it. Let’s put all our energy into this direction,” said Proteas coach Shukri Konrad.

“We don’t have a side of Amla, Gibbs, Smith and Callis, so let’s try to skin this cat in a different way. Really invest in little things like partnerships, try to get 300 on the board and see where that takes us.

“It was not a child’s hundred, it was my father’s hundred. It was a hundred that determined the possible fate of the series. We called out for someone to take the fight and hit like him because it’s a very skillful bowling attack.

“I know a lot of people are rocking and saying it’s just the West Indies. But it’s a very skillful bowling attack, and the fact that Temba did it under pressure in such a situation, I thought it was great.”

Revival of Markram

For Markram, his return to the Test side after he missed the Australian Tour due to poor form proved to be perfect as he was named the best player due to his batsmanship exploits.

In my first test scores of 115 and 47 were vital at Proteas, starting the streak with a win and he backed that effort with 96 in the first opportunity of the second Test, with his only real setback being 18, which he scored in the second innings.

Konrad explained that he had worked with Markram for a long time and knew what drove him, so it was not difficult to get him back on the team and keep him on top of the order.

“With many of these guys, I have come a long way with them. I had them at the national academy level five or six years ago. So I know the characters and I knew with Aiden, I just needed to clear his thought processes,” Conrad said.

“Get Aiden relaxed and confident and he will thrive at the top of the order. I think he only knew the batting opening. So for me it was an easy call.

“It was not that he repaid the faith (shown in it), but simply that he went out and rode the wave from SA20. All the stars seemed to align, so it was great that he did what he did.”