Batsman Aiden Markram and South Africa A’s Test cricketers are eager to right the wrongs of last week’s series opener against India A, come this week’s decider in Mysore.

Markram and fellow batsmen Heinrich Klaasen and Zubayr Hamza – alongside spinner Dane Piedt and fast bowler Lungi Ngidi – sunk to a heavy seven-wicket defeat in Thiruvananthapuram on Thursday.

All five have been named in the Proteas squad for next month’s Test series against India and will likely feature in this week’s fixture in Mysore.

‘The Test players are very disappointed in themselves and I’m a little disappointed as well,’ said South Africa A head coach Malibongwe Maketa.

‘They’re all are determined to set the record straight by ensuring they walk away from this series not just with a positive result in the next game, but also with runs and wickets under the belt going into that first Test against India’s main side next month.

‘It was disappointing with the first match. It’s unfortunate with the quality of the players that we had, we definitely expected different results to what we got. We’re not making any excuses for them; it was difficult with all the rain around for them to come in from South Africa without a game, so the rustiness of not playing did show.

‘I do hope that the cobwebs are out now going into the second Test. We all know what they can do, it’s now about execution.’

Maketa, however, earmarked the performance of Ngidi. The right-arm fast bowler took three wickets in the first innings and two in the second, spearheading a visiting seam attack lined with youngsters Marco Jansen and Lutho Sipamla.

‘In saying that, the improvement Lungi showed from the first innings to the second innings was really massive,’ he added.

‘The whole bowling unit showed great improvement, they just needed more runs to defend to effect a better result, so no doubt there were positives and we’ll look to build on those this week.’

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