Johannesburg - The importance of ‘throwing the first punch,’ and then ‘staying in the fight,’ are two of the Proteas’ favourite analogies.
‘Throwing the first punch,’ as the phrase implies, is to make a strong play early in a series or match, and then having done that, don’t back down, even when the opponents return blows, ‘stay in the fight’.
From the perspective of a series, South Africa have battled with throwing that first punch. Against India, they were chasing the first Test from lunch on the first day.
Against New Zealand, the inability to land any blows in the first Test last week, saw them floored in record time.
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In the second Test they’ve made a much better fist of things. They landed the first punch after winning the toss and choosing to bat and when New Zealand hit back on the second morning, they stayed in the fight, thanks to Marco Jansen.
Jansen looks more like a basketball player than a boxer, but he seems to thrive in a fight. He went head to head with Jasprit Bumrah at the Wanderers last month quite literally, so to show that much vaunted Indian team that neither he nor his teammates were willing to give ground.
A similar attitude emerged on Saturday. New Zealand had thrown their big punch in the first session and South Africa had one of those batting collapses which have become the norm in the last few years yesterday’s saw five wickets lost for the addition of 45 runs.
Following a brief rain break Jansen found himself at the crease alongside Keshav Maharaj, with South Africa close to throwing away the advantage the top order had created on the first day.
Jansen didn’t flinch. Those all-rounder tendencies that were hinted at in the India series, suddenly grew in the face of a wonderfully entertaining game within a game against Neil Wagner. A chirp here, a boundary there, another word followed as did another four. It allowed South Africa to wrest back the initiative.
Jansen’s always been competitive the backyard battles with twin brother Duan in Potchefstroom, were where his competitive juices first started bubbling.
“If there is conflict or exchanges between players, then I try to give a little bit more,” he said on Saturday.
Engaging in verbals can be distracting for one so young, but Jansen knows he can only do that if his preparation before a match is in order. He knows his batting is important particularly in a team that’s been so poor in that department as the Proteas have been and he’s dedicated time to improving that aspect of his game, under the watchful eye of Cricket SA’s Batting Lead, Neil McKenzie, and more recently the Proteas batting consultant, Justin Sammons.
“I worked with Neil when I was with the SA A team last year, not on the mental side but to help me develop more strategically in how I bat. That involves game plans and all those things. Then when I got to the Proteas, I started working with Sammons just tweaking my technique, trying to tighten it … and focusing on my mental approach.”
He certainly has good hand/ eye coordination, but in hitting Wagner over long-on, and then following that with a lofted stroke over the slips knowing the bowler would attempt a short ball, showed his match awareness.
Two crucial wickets followed when he opened the bowling with Kagiso Rabada.
At 21, the potential Jansen possesses is enormous. He showed that with the ball against India, but yesterday at Hagley Oval, there was the full all-rounder package.
Jansen landed big blows on the second day, to get the Proteas back in the fight and then to put them ahead. It was a significant contribution in the context of the match and series, but also for what Jansen is capable of doing for this still developing Proteas team.
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