South African captain Aiden Markram (2R) receives the series trophy after winning the second and last Test cricket match against Bangladesh at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chittagong Proteas skipper Aiden Markram (pictured right with trophy) heaped praise on his troops following their thumping victory over Bangladesh in the second Test on Thursday.
Image: Tanvin Tamim/AFP
Proteas skipper Aiden Markram was justifiably proud of his troops after they delivered a record hiding of Bangladesh in the second Test, in Chattogram, on Thursday.
With Bangladesh resuming their first innings on 38/4 in response to South Africa’s 575/6 declared on day three, it was always going to be an uphill battle for the hosts.
The Proteas needed no further invitation as they were at their rampant best as they picked up 16 wickets on the day to win the Test match with two days to spare and by a mammoth innings and 273 runs.
Trying to make sense of the emphatic triumph, Markram explained why it was such a significant win.
“For me it's more special being a part of a team that's just won for the first time in 10 years in the subcontinent as a player of the team, I’m incredibly proud,” said Markram.
“For us as a group of players, we've never won a series on the subcontinent, so that makes it very special.”
The Proteas have two Tests against Sri Lanka starting on November 27, before two more matches against Pakistan over Christmas and New Year scheduled with both series taking place in South Africa. If South Africa win all those Tests, they will take part in the World Test Championship (WTC) final at Lord’s in June next year.
With South Africa once again competing with the best in Test cricket, Markram was indeed a proud skipper.
“To still be in the mix in terms of the log for the World Test Championship is a great thing as well. So you want to keep your name in the hat.
“But all you can really do is look after each day of each Test match at a time, and see where it gets you.”
The Test series victory follows some poor performances against Ireland, Afghanistan and West Indies in limited overs series between August and October.
Those series though, saw Proteas management experiment with largely inexperienced squads and the results cannot be judged too harshly. The last time a full strength Proteas team took the field was in the T20 World Cup final, and though they lost to India in the trophy match it was significant progress for the men’s team.
Showing they are a force in both formats was cause for optimism.
“Yeah, it's nice to hear things like that. It's been a tough journey at times and to slowly be progressing is a really good thing for us.
“Obviously the two formats are understandably completely different, but to to get a positive result is big for us as a Test team.
“To make a final at a T20 World Cup that's big for us as a T20 team, so If we can keep putting in good performances like that we don't really know what the ceiling is, because we haven't managed to lift the trophy.
“But we do believe that we have the players in the country to be able to do so. The journey itself has been incredibly difficult, but worth the fight, worth the hours, worth the sacrifice so and that's pretty much how we see it.”