South Africa's captain Aiden Markram plays a shot during the ICC men's Twenty20 World Cup 2024 semi-final cricket match between South Africa and Afghanistan at Brian Lara Cricket Academy in Tarouba, Trinidad and Tobago Proteas stand-in ODI skipper Aiden Markram is not overly concerned by his inexperienced team’s performance in the first ODI against Afghanistan. Picture: Chandan Khanna/AFP
Listening to stand-in One-Day International (ODI) Proteas skipper Aiden Markram in his post-match presser after the catastrophic performance against Afghanistan, one could be forgiven for thinking his side competed strongly in their first clash on Wednesday.
There was no mention of the fact that Afghanistan reduced an inexperienced Proteas side to 36/7 in Sharjah, and only a half century from Wiaan Mulder meant the South Africans were able to avoid a complete disaster.
Still, the victory was never in doubt for Afghanistan as they romped to a six-wicket win chasing down the paltry 107 for victory with 24 overs to spare.
Markram, after the match, spoke about how the team was intent on giving new faces in the squad the chance to experience international level cricket, while the lack of depth did not seem to be a concern.
“We are a team that's growing at the moment, and exposing guys to the next level is fantastic,” said Markram.
“So that's where we are at the moment, but the feeling I get amongst the team is that everyone's in a really good place and we’re really excited about the series that's ahead for us, not just this series.”
If you look at the top seven of the Proteas batting lineup, excluding skipper Aiden Markram and opener Reeza Hendricks, Tony de Zorzi (6), Tristan Stubbs (2), Kyle Verreynne (13), Jason Smith (1) and Wiaan Mulder (16) have 38 caps between them. That’s including the match against Afghanistan, in which Smith was making his debut.
South Africa also have a two-T20I and three-ODI series coming up against Ireland in Abu Dhabi over the next month. Markram said his management staff had one eye on the upcoming games when trying out the new combinations.
“We have one [ODI series] against Ireland as well, so for us to play One Day cricket coming up to Champions Trophy next year is great.
“Ultimately we had to grow the squad, grow players but we still have to win games of cricket for South Africa against the top opposition. In the conditions we've got no doubt it's gonna be a really big challenge for us, it’s also an exciting opportunity for us as a full squad.”
Markram added the idea was for his team to peak at the Champions Trophy which begins in February next year.
The second ODI starts at 2pm SA time on Friday.
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