Tears and no fears for Markram and Bavuma

A day for batting, fighting, hobbling, crying and dreaming

ICC World Test Championship Final. Lord’s, London. Day Three. Friday, June 13.

First innings:

Australia: 212 (56.4 overs)

South Africa: 138 (57.1 overs)

Second Innings:

Australia: 207 (65 overs)

South Africa: 213/2 (56 overs) – Markram 102*, Bavuma 65*

South African need 69 runs to win

South Africa won the toss and chose to field

Speaking before the start of the third day, Matt Hayden felt Australia had blown the World Test Championship final. He was given the honour of ringing the bell to announce the beginning of play. After the first two hours on Friday the 13^th it looked like South Africa had blown it and the bells were tolling for them.

But, the sun had come out and the tradition, if that is the word, or, perhaps, the pattern of day three being one for the batters came true. The beige wicket was benign and South Africa’s green and gold beating heart came to the fore. Aiden Markram’s tears after scoring a glorious century were things of beauty. Temba Bavuma’s hobbling, his hamstring having gone again, was the hobble of honour, a man pushing himself through pain, leading from the front as much as he captains from the back, according to his coach, Shukri Conrad.

“Both those guys have been through a lot of adversity over the last couple of years,” said Wiaan Mulder, who had contributed with 27. “You could see how drained they were as they walked off. It’s really special to see two guys who put South African cricket first do something special for us.”

Mulder’s partnership with Markram was vital to that clutch century, said Ashwell Prince, the batting coach. “Mulder should get a mention. Coming in early in a position that he’s not really accustomed to, having lost an early wicket, just sort of settled everything down with Aiden. I think that partnership was quite crucial.

“There were signs that the stats suggest that day three might be the best for batting. And they were pretty comfortable at numbers nine, 10 and 11 against a pretty good bowling attack. With the sun out, you know, you look for certain positives. So, can we feed off those types of things.”

Markram has everything you want in a batter – skill, timing, style and passion. On Friday he was resolute and when he flicked Josh Hazelwood for four off his hip, he did not jump into the air to celebrate. He walked to the middle, took off his helmet and raised his right fist to the sky. He cried and had to wipe his tears three times. This means more. On commentary, Nasser Hussain described it as a “clutch century”.

Bavuma pulled up with that iffy hamstring when he was on nine runs before tea, but there was no way he was going to go off. No way was he going to leave Markram, whom he describes as the heartbeat of the team, to bat on his own. He grimaced and he stroked and limped from crease to crease. When the going gets tough and all that.

“He’s tough,” said Prince. “Temba is tough and Aiden has great respect for Temba. In fact, I think this team’s greatest strength is the unity that they have in this camp. You only have to look at Tristan Stubbs celebrate a wicket, to understand that. They are well aware that South Africa have had much greater individual players, but they’ve got something special going up in that dressing room. That sort of helps them to drag each other along.

“Both of them were adamant that Temba was going to continue [after tea]. Temba wanted to continue. Aiden was adamant that the partnership is the key. Had Stubbs gone in, we would have still had Temba’s wicket intact, but you start in a new partnership. They were feeling pretty good and they wanted to continue. Aiden was well aware that he’d have to curb his intensity just in terms of running between the wickets to allow Temba to ease his way through it.

“It’s not done yet. But as you say, he’s had to fight throughout his career, and this could be a defining moment for his career, I believe. It’s the biggest stage in terms of Test cricket. For us, the most important thing is to stay in the moment. Obviously, from a batting point of view, that means play one ball at a time.”

One ball at a time, 69 runs to win the ICC World Test Championship. Day four awaits.