Proteas mentor Maketa believes Markram 'will play 100 Tests' even as runs have seemingly dried up

Despite not having him at his disposal for next month's Test tour of Australia, interim Proteas coach Malibongwe Maketa still firmly believes that Aiden Markram will play 100 Tests.

Cynics will breathe a sigh of indignation at Maketa's optimism, specifically because the former World Cup-winning national Under-19 skipper has not been able to sustain a superb start to his career in the pinnacle format of the game.

Since mid-2021's tour of the West Indies - the trip that signaled a steady change in South Africa's fortunes in Test cricket - the 28-year-old has only scored 249 runs in his last 16 innings at an average of 15.56.

Only once has be passed 50.

Rendering that poor output even more disappointing is that last year's tour of Pakistan, where he finished the top scorer on both sides in boasting scores of 108 and 74, supposedly suggested he had turned over a new leaf.

Now he's back, rightly, playing provincial cricket. 

Not that Maketa is worried at all.

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"I'm still a firm believer that, in this national group of players we currently have, Aiden can play 100 Tests," he said.

"He's going through a dip and the decision has been made to give him a bit of a break. But it doesn't close the door at all because we know the quality he has.

"I've got no doubt he'll go back to domestic cricket and score the runs to push for a spot again when the opportunity arises."

Emboldening his stance is the reality that most top-class batters only really mature after 30 when they've had time to learn their games inside-out.

The question though is whether domestic cricket is competitive enough for Markram to do that?

The elegant right-hander has never really had a problem dominating