South African batsman Aiden Markram expressed confidence that his team will overcome past tournament failures when they face Australia in the World Test Championship final at Lord’s on Wednesday. Speaking to reporters at Lord’s on Sunday, Markram addressed concerns about previous defeats, including last year’s T20 World Cup final loss to India in Barbados.South Africa’s previous heartbreak in the T20 World Cup final saw them fall short despite needing just 30 runs from 30 balls with six wickets in hand against India.Markram, who captained the T20 team and is one of five players from that match in the current WTC final squad, believes the Test team under Temba Bavuma’s leadership will approach this challenge differently.“This team is a bit different. The few of us that have been a part of previous events that didn’t go our way have dealt with it, have obviously chatted to each other and made sure we’ve buried it nicely and taken some good lessons from it. But besides from that now, it’s more about the excitement of having another opportunity to actually do the job. So that’s pretty much where the mind is at the moment.”
As an opener, Markram will face Australia’s formidable bowling attack, while South Africa counters with their own impressive pace attack led by Kagiso Rabada.“When you’re opening the batting, obviously your responsibility is to get the team off to a good start and get us ahead of the game. So that’s the challenge, that’s what excites us. But when you’re preparing against your bowlers, who are world-class, it can only help you as a batter, as uncomfortable as it can be at times.”South Africa’s qualification for the final came after winning seven consecutive Tests, mostly in short series formats.
“A lot of our series have been two-game series. So in order to win that series, you can’t start slow. There’s no second dip at it, so we’re going to have to make sure we hit the ground running and are nice and sharp come day one.”The 30-year-old Markram, with 45 Test matches under his belt, anticipates the historic opportunity to play at Lord’s.“To play in a Test match here is really special and then obviously for it to be a final is probably the cherry on top.”When asked about what makes Lord’s memorable, Markram responded: “Probably just the history…You know how many of the greats of the game have played here. For us to have that opportunity to play on the same field and share that changing room that they once sat in is quite a cool thought.”
