Pretoria: Captain of South Africa Aiden Markram says that his team can expect to have a target on their backs when they start a new cycle of the world testing championship (WTC) as reigning champions.
South Africa plays a two test series in Pakistan, from Sunday, and two games in India in November when they were trying to keep the trophy they won in June by beating Australia with five counters at Lord’s.
The WTC is decided at the end of a two -year cycle, with the two best teams in competition in a single five -day match.
“I suppose you create a little target on your back if you have won (the WTC), and if that’s the case, it’s right. We want to hunt a place again in the final and raise this trophy but realize that each team will come for us,” said Markram, who stands as a skipper for Temba Bavuma who was excluded from the stump of Calf.
“We, as a team, must continue to improve and improve and play well in all different types of conditions. It starts for us in Pakistan, and this is a challenge for which boys will be ready,” he told a press conference on Monday.
South Africa trained on rotation counters specially prepared at the Pretoria high performance center.
“There were a few prepared nets where the spin is really exaggerated, and you prefer to be wrong on this side, and maybe it’s a little easier when we arrive in Pakistan,” said Markram.
“We expect to face a lot of spin there, and it is also, of course, much lower there from a sewing point of view. There is a lot of slippage, so it is difficult to try to imitate it here in South Africa, but we have sought to put a lot of accent on the search for a way to train for that.”
The first test against Pakistan is in Lahore and the second begins on October 20 in Rawalpindi.
