Seamer Marco Jansen completed a five-wicket haul on day three of South Africa’s ongoing Test series opener against Pakistan at SuperSport Park in Centurion.
Jansen is South Africa’s third-highest wicket-taker in Test cricket in 2024, behind spinner Keshav Maharaj and fast bowler Kagiso Rabada.
“I’ve struggled the whole game, to be honest. I feel like I’ve not been as consistent as I should be – if that makes sense – regarding line and length. Everything wasn’t clicking,” said Jansen.
“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. We always knew that we’re in the game, and we always knew that something’s going to happen.”
The Proteas are pursuing a 148-run target at SuperSport Park. They are currently 27 for three in the fourth innings. If victorious in Centurion, South Africa will qualify for a berth in the International Cricket Council’s World Test Championship final next year.
“The three wickets they got were three good balls, so it’s not like we threw our wickets away. 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,” added Jansen.
“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.
“My mental point of view is to be as disciplined as possible for as long as possible. We know that with the new ball, it moves quite sharply here – especially in the second innings of the game.
“Once the ball gets older, it gets a lot easier to bat, and it’s a nice scoring ground. So with the new ball, it is definitely going to move sideways, and then the odd ball will shoot up and the odd ball will also keep low.”
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