Gqeberha – The Proteas Women T20 team set the standards in the T20I World Cup last month, it’s time for the men to deliver against the West Indies on Saturday at SuperSport Park.
The Proteas take on the West Indies in a three-match T20I series at SuperSport Park (Saturday & Sunday) and the Wanderers Stadium (28 March).
Addressing the media for the first time since his appointment as captain of the T20I team, Aiden Markram said the West Indies are not to be underestimated in the shortest format of the game.
Markram cited the overall ability of the West Indies unit, the many T20 specialists in their team and the two-time world champions tag they carry.
“They are a fantastic white-ball team, especially in the T20 arena. We’ve seen them win world cups and the amount of x-factor that they do have in their squad is a big amount,” said Markram.
“We are going to have to be sharp against them. We look forward to it, it’s a great team to test our skills against to of see where we are at the moment with regards to the T20 side.”
ALSO READ: Proteas T20 skipper Aiden Markram has the backing of Rob Walter as new era begins
This will be the first international T20 series in South Africa this year after the Women’s World Cup last month. South Africa competed in the final and went down narrowly to a strong Australia Women’s team.
The Proteas draw strength from the ‘s-heroics’ of the Proteas women World Cup squad. Most importantly, Sune Luus’ team united the country in a way only special teams do.
Markram pledged to follow in the women’s footsteps.
ALSO READ: Proteas’ new T20 journey all about high risk, high reward for white-ball coach Rob Walter
“We are seeing it as them setting the standard and something for us to chase which is a great thing to have for cricket in the country,” Markram told the media on Friday.
“We saw the power that they had to gather so much support in such a short space of time by doing well in a tournament like that. They’ve inspired us to try get there as well,” he added.
@imongamagcwabe
IOL Sports