T20 World Cup loss the motivator, says Aiden Markram

THE Proteas have certainly taken the monkey off their backs.

Gone are the days when South Africa are associated with the 'chockers' tag after winning their first major ICC trophy at Lord's on Saturday when they beat Australia by five wickets to be crowned the 2023-2025 ICC World Test Champions.

Centurion Aiden Markram highlighted that they don't want to hear the tag being brought up again in major ICC events, as they have gotten rid of it at Lord's this week.

The 30-year-old emphasised that getting rid of the tag was part of the motivation this week.

"It would be great not to have to hear it again, that's for sure. In terms of it motivating you, there's always going to be external things that can motivate you, but it's not your sole purpose for playing," Markram told the media on Saturday.  

"So to have got the job done and to literally have got the job done and to get rid of that is quite a big thing for this team, I feel."

Having been part of the Proteas side that lost to India in the 2024 T20 World Cup final in the Caribbean, Markram told the media that he got flashes of how he felt when he lost his wicket early in that match.

That too played a part in motivating the 30-year-old to put on what was the best century of his career.

"I thought a lot about the T20 World Cup last night and how hopeless I felt sitting on the side after getting out. And I was like, I don't want to sit there again, so it just gave me a bit of motivation to make sure I stay at the crease if I could," he said.

"But never once thought about the achievements and what would come with it. It was always about just trying to get the job done and trying to win."

The 30-year-old highlighted that winning the Test mace carries a lot of weight and perhaps more weight than the T20 World Cup, purely because of the physical, mental and to an extent also the emotional demands that come with playing Test cricket.

"It's as big and as tough as it gets, so all the questions that have been asked in the past have fortunately now been answered. The test one was always going to be, in my opinion, the toughest one," said Markram.

"It's many days of playing good cricket, whereas in a T20 or even one-day cricket nowadays, you just need one person to really put their hand up on the day and you can get a win. 4

"So it was always going to be the toughest, it was always going to be a full team effort to get over the line, and guys chipped in exactly when they needed to.

"Something small like Wiaan Mulder's partnership last night or yesterday, that's huge to take this thing out of the new ball and then Timbers both his knocks were massive. 

"It's not always about the massive milestones, but those guys that take the edge out of the game and get us ahead of the game and get us comfortable, it makes a big difference in finals, I feel," he concluded.