Markram: Playing two-Test series throughout WTC cycle could help us in the final

South Africa's schedule of two-Test series throughout the World Test Championship has an unintended benefit in preparing them for getting off the starting blocks quickly, which could come in handy in a one-off final. Or at least, that's the line Aiden Markram came up with, and is sticking to, three days out from the biggest Tests of his and his team-mate's careers.

"A lot of our series have been two-game series, so in order to win, you can't start slow. That's helped us along the way," Markram said after South Africa's first training session at Lord's. "We know the importance of starting well, trying to get ahead of the game early and how important each session is going to be. There's no second dip at it. We have to make sure we hit the ground running and are nice and sharp come day one."

A prominent example of South Africa taking time to get into matches was on their 2012 tour to England, where England got to 267 for 3 on the first day and South Africa appeared lethargic. But they soared back to win that match, the series and the mace, albeit with a completely different generation of players. The luxury of allowing themselves a meander does not exist in a one-off final and has not existed over the course of the cycle because of how few Tests South Africa have played. They could not afford to slip up, much less when they effectively forfeited a series in New Zealand by sending an understrength side in February 2022, which meant they had to win seven out of their next eight Tests.

Still, there are concerns over whether a team that has not played a Test in six months and whose warm-up match only had one full day of cricket will be ready for an occasion like Lord's and specifically whether their batting line-up will be. Temba Bavuma is the only player in the top seven who has played more than 50 Tests and, before October, one of only three batters - Markram and Kyle Verreynne being the others - to have scored a Test hundred.

South Africa's inexperience is stark, especially when compared with the opposite in the Australian camp. As one illustration, Steven Smith has played two fewer Tests than Markram, Ryan Rickelton, Wiaan Mulder, Tristan Stubbs, David Bedingham and Verreynne - South Africa's top seven without Bavuma - combined. It's no secret that South Africa's batting is considered their weaker suit and all eyes will be on how they front up to Australia's much-vaunted attack. Markram knows that and, after a few days facing his own bowlers in the nets, believes he is ready.

"When you're opening the batting, obviously your responsibility is to calm the changing room down, get the team off to a good start and get us ahead of the game," he said. "That's the challenge, that's what excites us. When you're preparing against your bowlers who are world-class, it can only help you as a batter, as uncomfortable as it can be at times. But that's the gauge - that you judge where your game is at."

At Lord's on Sunday, Markram faced Kagiso Rabada and Marco Jansen for a lengthy period of time, and with five fifties from 13 innings at the IPL, he considers himself to be in good form. "I'm feeling good. I feel like I'm moving well," he said. "The IPL is obviously a completely different format but it was nice to come into a game feeling good. I'm pleased to be in that headspace at the moment and when you're feeling like this, it's really about cashing in and trying to make a difference for the team."

Markram also has the unique experience of being the only other captain to lead South Africa in an ICC event final this millennium (Hansie Cronje led them in the 1998 Wills International Cup final) - and he has done it twice. Markram was in charge when the South Africa U-19 won the age-group World Cup in 2014 and last year, when the senior side got to the final of the T20 World Cup in Barbados. The latter was the apex of a few weeks of intensity as South Africa reeled off eight consecutive wins to reach the final. In Tests, they've now won seven in a row. Are there any similarities?

"It has a different feeling, to be very honest," Markram said. "I think because it's a one-off game and there hasn't been a consecutive build-up to it, it does feel slightly different, at least for the time being. Maybe the night before, all of a sudden, it might all align. But for now, it's got a different feel about it. Also, knowing it's multiple days of cricket, not just three hours and it's done."

All the reasons that make red- and white-ball cricket different (time, pressure, narrative) is why this South African team cannot be lumped with the ODI and T20I squads who failed to cross the final hurdle before them, but nuance can often get lost. South Africa know that, so "the few of us that have been a part of previous ICC events that didn't go our way have dealt with it, chatted to each other and made sure we've buried it and taken some good lessons from it", Markram said. "From now on, it's more about the excitement of having another opportunity to do the job."

And that will require even temperaments and an understanding that they have to start strongly. "It's about each guy making sure that they don't peak too early and get too excited too early, because then you end up draining yourself," Markram said. "So, managing your loads at training, managing specifics at training, instead of trying to flush everything out in one session, have that gradual build-up so that by the time you get to day one, you feel like you've ticked every box, but it hasn't been at 100 miles an hour. We have to respect the Test match format. It takes a lot out of you from an energy point of view and a psychological point of view. We need to be fresh and ready to go on day one."