Jansen urges South Africa to be disciplined as WTC Finals beckon for his side after his six-wicket haul against Pakistan.
Jansen urges South Africa to finish the job with only win one out of this and the next Test needed.
Even Marco Jansen will tell you that none of the four deliveries he took wickets with on day three of the first Test match against Pakistan on Saturday at SuperSport Park were a real indication of his ability, even though his result of 6 for 52 should be characterised as shining.
Parts of the bowling in each of the three completed innings thus far are included by that assessment. While Corbin Bosch acknowledged that some of his wickets came from balls the batters didn’t need to play at, Kagiso Rabada, by far the most dangerous player in South Africa’s attack, remained wicketless in Pakistan’s opening match.
Pakistan was occasionally listless in South Africa’s opening innings, giving Aiden Markram and Bosch too many boundary balls at beginning. Rabada and Dane Paterson then had trouble keeping pace in Pakistan’s second innings, and Bosch was off the mark before Temba Bavuma looked to Jansen to turn things around.
Babar Azam, who had just reached his fifty, was unable to withstand Jansen’s fifth ball, which went short and wide. Jansen got his first post-Christmas present when he cut it to deep point, where Bavuma had placed Bosch. when two overs, Mohammad Rizwan was caught behind when he followed a short ball that was angling down leg with a halting pull.
Salman Agha then drove leaden-footed at a full, wide ball in the following over. Although there are concerns with the shot choices made by all three batters, South Africa has always anticipated that they would select such strokes.
“We know most of their batters like to play a positive brand of Test cricket. So we know that if we stick to our lines and lengths, they might leave one or two [balls], but their tendencies are they’ll go at one,” Jansen said. “We always knew that we’re in the game, and we always knew that something’s going to happen.”
“I wanted to go for the yorker, but I probably missed it by a shin’s length,” Jansen said. “At the end of the day, people can say what they want. [But] he missed it, and it’s a wicket. So I’m happy for that.”
Even as the Pakistani quicks used the additional bounce and nip available, three of their top four were removed due to the new ball being bowled on the right lengths, which was just short of a decent length. South Africa should not be overly upset with what transpired to Tony de Zorzi, Ryan Rickelton, and Tristan Stubbs, who all had their final say in this match.
“The three wickets they got were three good balls, so it’s not like we threw our wickets away,” Jansen said. “That’s not to make it seem better. But as long as they get us out with good balls, there’s only so much you can do as a batter. You can only play what you see – you can’t pre-empt or pre-meditate what you want to do – because on this pitch, you’re going to get yourself in trouble.”