Relieved and grateful Markram marks test recall with a century

The opener was dropped against England and left out of the test tour to Australia but recalled this month in a revamp of the South Africa side ahead of their home series against the West Indies.

He seized his chance to impress on the opening day of the first test with a focused 115-run knock on his home Centurion pitch.

He was teary-eyed when he reached his century – his sixth at test level – and admitted afterwards that he had wondered whether his test career had been at an end.

"You do go through moments where you doubt yourself and wonder if you'll ever get the opportunity again," he said after helping South Africa race to 221-1 shortly after tea before the West Indies fought back to have the home side 314-8 at stumps.

"I've always loved test match cricket, red ball cricket and was grateful that the coach and the captain backed me and for the day to work out the way it did."

Markram struck 18 fours in his 174-ball knock, as he and Dean Elgar put on 141 for the first wicket.

RELIEF, JOY, GRATITUDE

"I think my biggest emotion was that sense of relief, knowing that you can still compete in this format at this level. But I thoroughly enjoyed it. There were moments of luck here and there. But just grateful it worked out," he said.

Markram, who debuted six years ago and scored two centuries in his first three tests, had been seen as a potential stalwart for South Africa at test level but flattered to deceive and had a test batting average of 34 when he was dropped.

But he has been scoring freely in limited-overs cricket, captaining his franchise to victory in South Africa’s new Twenty20 league earlier this month.

"I suppose it might have helped a bit from a confidence point of view," Markram said of his form against the white ball.

"I think the way the game is going now, you'd rather be positive and not reckless, but you still want to take the game on and express yourself as much as you can. And I think when you get a bit tentative, you can sort of dig an unnecessary hole for yourself," he added.