Aiden Markram is looking to pull the trigger from the first ball when the Proteas face Ireland in the second T20 today at 5pm.
Adjusting to his new role as middle-order batsman – with Quinton de Kock and captain Temba Bavuma opening the batting – Markram top-scored for South Africa in the first match with 39, as the visitors took a 1-0 series lead with a 33-run win.
As he looks to book his place in the World Cup squad, Markram says of the adjustments he has to make batting down the order: “A lot of it comes down to playing situations better.
“As an opener you know exactly what your role is every time you bat, whereas in the middle order those roles change completely based on the situation in the game.
“It’s important to develop a power game that I can go to earlier on. Generally when I used to bat at the back end of an innings, I would have spent a bit of time there opening.
“Now at four or somewhere in the middle order, you might end up walking out at the back end and to be able to pull the trigger pretty early in the innings is something I need to keep training and improve on.”
Of exactly how he trains to improve that aspect of his game, Markram adds: “For me it’s about net session walking into a net session and understanding that I have to pull the trigger from ball one.
“It’s about getting into that net session and always looking for a boundary.”
SA can wrap up the three-match series with a win tonight.