- Proteas batter Aiden Markram said they need to take more responsibility for what happens at the back-end of the innings.
- The Proteas have been struggling to convert their starts in T20 cricket and on Tuesday against Ireland, their batting misfired.
- They face Ireland in the second of three T20s in Belfast after winning the first one in Dublin on Tuesday.
Proteas batter Aiden Markram said they need to show more responsibility in terms of taking the game deep as top-order willow-wielders in T20 cricket.
While South Africa won the first T20 against Ireland in Dublin comfortably despite a stuttering innings, they'll be hard-pressed to win in Friday's second T20 in Belfast if their batting continues to function in fits and starts.
One of the problems SA faced in their 3-2 series win against the West Indies was their inability to make their starts count.
While Markram cited a quick change in batting in the West Indies as one of the reasons they could make more than 170 in the West Indies, having someone bat through the innings will go a long way in rectifying their back-end batting issues.
"I don't think we doubt the ability that comes in after the batters, but I think as the main batters, we can take a lot more responsibility and at least have one of us there going into the last over," Markram said.
"We've had lots of chats about our finishing and a lot if has boiled down to change of conditions in an innings where it became tough to score runs at the back-end.
"Having an in batter, especially in those last five overs, may definitely help rectify the problems at the back-end."
While the composition of SA's middle to lower-order batting has been a regular topic of debate, Markram said the timing of the in batter's acceleration has been an issue.
The loss of the in batter has regularly meant that the bowlers have had to put in an unexpected batting shift.
At various times, Kagiso Rabada and George Linde have been required to contribute lower-order runs, something they've done with varying degrees of success.
"The times when we've lost the in batter was because the said person felt they were in a position to pull the trigger when trying to capitalise in the death overs," Markram said.
"Every time that has happened, we've lost the in batter and those are the things we've been able to address.
"Guys like George and KG have been hitting a lot of balls and we have faith in them. KG proved it in the previous game and George has done it plenty of times at franchise level."