Marco Jansen’s five-wicket haul was the only positive point after a dismal performance by the Proteas in the third Test against England at the Oval.
Johannesburg — Sadly for Marco Jansen there wasn’t much to smile about after a day in which a landmark achievement did provide the opportunity for South Africa to make a comeback into the game, but which the Proteas batters couldn’t take.
Jansen claimed the final wicket in England’s first innings, getting Ben Foakes caught at third slip by Keegan Petersen, to claim a first Test ‘five-for.’ However despite he and the rest of the South African attack restricting England to just a 40-run lead, the Proteas still find themselves on the brink of a series defeat after another dismal batting performance.
“We are in a difficult situation, I guess,” he said somewhat understatedly on Sunday night. England needs just 33 runs to win on Monday morning, after the umpires decided the light was too bad to continue at the end of the fourth day much to the chagrin of the crowd and the England team.
Jansen said he and the rest of the South Africans were happy to play on, but with the officials having already established a standard for the light on Saturday evening when they took the players off early, they gave themselves no other option but to do the same when the light worsened on Sunday evening.
Jansen, playing just his seventh Test, picked up 5/35, and having scored 30 in the disastrous Proteas effort in the first innings, should be feeling good about his all-round effort. He and the rest of the bowling unit would be forgiven for feeling cranky with their batting colleagues, but Jansen said that wasn’t the case.
“Everyone in the team works hard, is on the same track and working towards the same goal. We call it climbing the ladder,” said the lanky 22 year old. “Everyone is working hard behind the scenes, putting in the hours, putting in the work. If someone thinks that they have to work on a certain area in their game — which is everyone — they go and they do it, they take the responsibility whether it is as a batter or bowler, or in the gym with their fitness.”
“Everyone can see the hard work that is going into it but unfortunately things haven’t gone our way.”
South Africa has scored four sub-180 totals in the last two Tests, which have cost them the series, but despite the excellence of the bowlers, Jansen, who has announced himself as a future star during this series, says he doesn’t feel hard done by.
“I wouldn’t say I feel cheated out of a better ending. I feel at stages guys are getting closer, because everyone can see that everyone is doing their best and putting in the hard yards.”
As for how he would spend his Sunday night, knowing there wasn’t a hell of a lot of hard work ahead on Monday, Jansen said he’d be taking it easy. “I’ll phone my parents, catch up with them a bit, relax with the guys and maybe go out for something to eat.”
The plan for Monday? “Well we can’t really restrict them, so it will be all about taking wickets. We have to go out there with an aggressive mindset.”
