Markram tries to connect the dots between Africa and Asia

Africa isn't Asia. Asia isn't Africa. Contrasting conditions are part of what makes Test cricket so intriguing. For aficionados, at least. For players, it's more like trying not to make an idiot of yourself on what looks like a pitch but behaves like 22 yards from another planet. That's particularly true for top order batters, and even more so for openers.

Aiden Markram knows the feeling only too well. In South Africa he has scored 1,449 runs, among them four centuries, in 32 innings. At home he averages 46.74, has faced more than 100 balls in an innings nine times, and more than 200 thrice. All of his other innings have been in Asia where, going into the