Markram in race against time for form, fitness

[Torrent Disney]

Aiden Markram is in a race against time to find fitness and form for South Africa's next international assignment against England at home. Markram fractured his wrist by "lashing out at a solid object," after his second innings dismissal in the second Test against India in Pune. He has been put in a cast until the end of November and will miss the Mzansi Super League. A full recovery could take eight weeks, which will run until mid-December. The England series starts on Boxing Day.

In the interim, efforts to speed up Markram's recovery are being made with such of hyperbaric therapy, which involves using high air pressure to accelerate healing. Markram is due to be reviewed by an orthopedic surgeon in five weeks' time.

By then, the MSL will be at its halfway stage and even if declared fit, Markram will play no part in the T20 tournament. He has been replaced in the Paarl Rocks' squad by Cobras batsmen Kyle Verreynne. With franchise suspended for the duration of the MSL, Markram could play in the second-tier provincial competition but the only other opportunity for Markram to have some game time will be in a round of four-day fixtures before the Test series, which begin on December 19.

Time in the middle will be important for Markram, who scored just 44 runs in four innings in India and bagged a pair in Pune. Both captain Faf du Plessis and coach Enoch Nkwe spoke about mental scars that teams can suffer from after touring India, and Markram appears to be one of the players affected. Like several batsmen on their first tour of India, Markram was undone by foreign conditions, but unlike touring teams of the recent past, he wasn't outspun. Instead, Markram was unable to cope with the intensity and unexpected bounce Mohammed Shami and Umesh Yadav generated, a style of bowling he would have been expected to counter, given conditions he usually bats in at home.