Aiden Markram: Proteas hoped for a chance to hit back in rained out match

Proteas captain Aiden Markram admitted on Sunday his team were disappointed not to have an opportunity to bounce back from a humiliating defeat two days earlier, after the third and final T20 match against England was abandoned without a ball bowled in Nottingham.

In the first match of the series, the SA team won by 14 runs on the DLS method after rain disrupted play in Cardiff, and in the second fixture they were handed a shock 146-run defeat in Manchester.

With rain again pouring down on Sunday, the series ended in a 1-1 draw.

“We took a lot of lessons from the second game. We’ve obviously reflected on it and we were excited at the opportunity to try to fix some of those things today, but unfortunately the rain came through and didn’t really stop,” Markram said.

“We’ve chatted about it and obviously addressed it as a group, and we’ll have to wait for the next T20 to start putting those things in place.”

Addressing the inconsistency

With the Proteas also having recently fallen in two crushing ODI defeats – losing by 276 runs against Australia in Mackay last month, and by 342 runs against England in Southampton earlier this month – Markram said the inconsistency had been addressed.

While they won both those ODI series and drew the T20 series against England, the T20 skipper and top-order batter acknowledged that it was an issue that needed to be dealt with.

“Now that it’s happened three times, we’ve put a lot of emphasis to ensure it doesn’t happen again,” Markram said.

“But if we look after the way we approach the game, and our processes off the field, we have to have the belief that it won’t be a thing that continues.”

Looking ahead to World Cup

Less than five months out from the T20 World Cup to be held in India and Sri Lanka early next year, Markram felt they had a good idea of what they needed to work on in the build-up.

“We’re still looking at options and we’re still giving opportunities, which is exciting with the young and fearless crew we have coming through,” he said.

“So a lot of it is about driving the approach, driving the mental approach about the game, and instilling the belief in the guys. And obviously from a skills point of view I think we’re all chipping away at our games to try improve.

“A lot of it is planning for me as a captain, and I feel if our plans are in order and we plan for tough scenarios or scenarios where we’re on the front foot, if you’ve addressed it before the game I find it a lot easier to sort of go about things in the middle.

“So that’s where the focus will be, a lot of planning and a lot of mental application for the approach towards T20 cricket.”