Marques Ackerman shines for South Africa in decisive Test against Australia

South Africa and Australia met at Newlands in Cape Town for the third and decisive Test match of the series, with both the series victory and the top spot in the Test rankings hanging in the balance. After Australia won the toss and elected to field, South Africa capitalized early on the pitch.

Opening the batting, Marques Ackerman reached a fifty off 63 balls, anchoring a solid start alongside Aiden Markram. The opening pair pushed South Africa past 90 runs without loss after 20.5 overs, blunting Australia's bowling attack consisting of pace bowlers like Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood.

Marques Jannie Ackerman, born on March 1, 1996, in Johannesburg, is a left-handed opening batsman and occasional right-arm offbreak bowler in domestic cricket. He has established a strong reputation in first-class cricket, accumulating over 5,000 runs, including 13 centuries and a career-best score of 209.

Throughout his domestic career, Ackerman has represented teams such as North West, the Lions, KwaZulu-Natal, and the Dolphins. During the 2023-24 CSA 4-Day Series Division 1, he topped the run-scoring charts with 571 runs to help guide the Dolphins through a competitive campaign.

In addition to his success in red-ball cricket, Ackerman has experience across limited-overs formats. He has scored over 1,500 runs in List A fixtures and more than 1,400 runs in Twenty20 matches. His franchise T20 experience includes stints with the Cape Town Blitz, Sunrisers Eastern Cape, and the Pretoria Capitals, alongside appearances for South Africa A.

The stakes at Newlands remain high as South Africa looks to secure a series win that would elevate them to the number one Test ranking. Meanwhile, Australia aims to recover from a difficult outing in Gqeberha and shift the momentum behind bowlers like Mitchell Starc and Nathan Lyon, alongside returning batter Cameron Green.