Johannesburg — Unfortunately for Marco Jansen, there wasn’t much to grin about after a day in which a milestone achievement presented South Africa with the potential to make a comeback, but the Proteas batsmen failed to capitalize.
Jansen took his maiden Test ‘five-for’ when catching Ben Foakes at third slip off Keegan Petersen during England’s opening innings. However, despite he and the rest of the South African attack confining England to a 40-run advantage, the Proteas are on the verge of losing the series following another poor batting effort.
Sunday night, he observed with great understatement, “I guess we’re in a terrible situation.” England needs just 33 runs to win on Monday morning, after the umpires halted play on the fourth day due to poor lighting, much to the dismay of the audience and the England players.
Jansen and the rest of the South Africans were eager to continue playing, but because the officials had already established a standard for the light on Saturday evening by taking the players off early, they had no choice but to do the same on Sunday evening when the light deteriorated.
Jansen, playing in just his eighth Test, took 5/35 and scored 30 in the Proteas’ catastrophic first innings. He should be pleased with his all-around performance. Jansen stated that he and the rest of the bowling unit were not irritable with their hitting teammates, despite the fact that he and his teammates could be excused for feeling so.
Everyone on the team works diligently, is on the same path, and is pursuing the same objective. “We call it ascending the ladder,” the wiry 22-year-old explained. “Everyone is working tirelessly behind the scenes, putting in the hours and the effort. If someone believes they need to work on a given aspect of their game — which is everyone — they go and do it; they own responsibility, whether they are a batter, bowler, or fitness enthusiast in the gym.”
Everyone can see how much effort is being put into it, but sadly, things have not gone our way.
South Africa has produced four sub-180 totals in the previous two Tests, which has cost them the series, but Jansen, who has emerged as a future star throughout this series, says he does not feel badly done by.
“I do not feel cheated out of a better conclusion. Everyone can see that everyone is putting in their best effort and putting in the hard yards, therefore I feel that the teams are getting closer.”
Jansen stated that he would be taking it easy on Sunday night, recognizing that Monday would not involve a great deal of labor. I’ll call my parents, catch up with them a bit, unwind with the boys, and perhaps go out to eat.
What’s on tap for Monday? “We can’t really restrict them, so we’ll have to focus on taking wickets.” We must approach the situation with an aggressive spirit.”