Aiden sets out to make his mark for Proteas as skipper

The age of Aiden Markram will officially begin on Saturday in the first T20 International between the Proteas and the West Indies in Centurion. 

South Africa’s new T20 captain, Markram, gets to start the journey at senior level that many had earmarked for him after the success of the SA under-19 team, which he led to the world title in 2014.

Back then, the future of the Proteas leadership seemed sorted.

However Markram’s journey has been, like much else in South African cricket, turbulent. 

In just his third ODI, against India in 2018, he was made captain when then skipper Faf du Plessis and a few senior players got injured.

It was a mistake by the then selection panel which probably set Markram’s overall development back a few years, with that team suffering a 5-1 defeat to Virat Kohli’s team.

“I was quite fresh back then. I was very hard on myself, and always wanted to do well and we know this sport, it doesn’t always work out that way,” Markram said on Friday.

That’s been the case for much of the 28-year-old’s international career.

The unruly 2018 Test series against Australia in which he scored two centuries, was supposed to be the launch pad for his senior Proteas career.

But it’s been a stop-start journey which saw him dropped from the Test squad for the recent tour to Australia and then restored for the two Tests against the West Indies. 

With the coaching changes around the Proteas this year, he now finds himself as T20 captain, with the belief among many that he will be given the ODI reins too for the 2027 tournament that will be hosted in South Africa.

Markram, for all the challenges he has faced, has also used the time to learn from others and said it was Faf du Plessis whose example he followed closest.

“Being with the legendary team the Proteas had at the time I paid attention to how Faf managed to marshal his troops. That is something I looked up to and strived for probably without him knowing, it was just through me observing from the side.” 

With reports about Du Plessis possibly making a return to the Proteas T20 side later this year, Markram could get another opportunity to sponge off him some more. For the foreseeable future, Markram won’t be short of options from within the current Proteas squad, for players to lean on or to provide tactical assistance. 

David Miller, who had expressed interest in the job Markram currently holds, Quinton de Kock and Wayne Parnell all led their respective franchises in the SA20 tournament recently.

“I’ll look to tap into them,” said Markram.

He leads a very experienced squad for the series against the West Indies, which has an eye on next week’s ODIs against the Netherlands.

“We want to win the series obviously, but we are also mindful of doing so, while trying to give everyone in the squad a chance to play.” 

Importantly the likes of Kagiso Rabada and Anrich Nortjé, who were given time off after the Test series, will be provided an opportunity to get the competitive juices flowing again against a West Indies side that has proven itself to be proficient in the sport’s shortest format.

“They are a fantastic white ball team, but especially in the T20 arena, we’ve seen them win world cups and they have a big amount of X factor in their squad — it’s a great team to test our skills against,” said Markram.

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