Ken Borland

While no-one dares to think about what’s next in South African cricket’s batting aisle, at least we know there is some bowling depth and left-arm paceman Marco Jansen has to be one of the most exciting prospects in world cricket.

The 22-year-old Jansen has taken 40 wickets in just eight Tests, at the great average of only 18.00. He has taken four wickets in an innings four times already. Add to that the promise he has shown with the bat – already averaging 18.36 – and he is clearly a superb package as a cricketer.

Which is why his Proteas team-mate Kagiso Rabada, already established as one of the great fast bowlers of the era, rates him so highly.

“Marco has that x-factor, he’s just a natural bowler, it looks like you could wake him up at 3am and he can do what he’s been doing,” Rabada said.

“He’s naturally gifted – he has pace and height, he can swing it, nip it and get bounce, and he’s a leftie. What more do you want?

“He’s also got the mindset for fast bowling. Not a lot of people really possess that, but he’s got it. Marco is a pretty rare, exciting prospect,” Rabada said.

Jansen possibly only played in the first Test against Australia in Brisbane because the Proteas were willing to sacrifice a batsman, and he certainly made the most of his guest starring appearance with three for 32.

On the opening day he claimed the wicket of the world’s number one ranked batsman, Marnus Labuschagne, caught in the slips off his first delivery; on the second morning he had both top-scorer Travis Head and the dangerous Cameron Green caught behind the wicket in the space of three deliveries just when the Proteas had handed control back to Australia with a messy start.

But Jansen could miss out on the second Test starting on Boxing Day in Melbourne simply because of the pressure that is on the tourists to strengthen their truant batting line-up. Rabada called for patience when it came to the Proteas batting.

“Our batting line-up is quite inexperienced, our whole team is if you look around at other teams in the world. Dean Elgar [80 caps] is the most experienced, followed by myself [56] and Temba Bavuma [52], everyone else does not have much experience,” Rabada pointed out.

“It can be frustrating as a team, but we need to understand that this is what happens in a rebuilding phase. When I debuted, I played with an outstanding line-up, greats of the game, which doesn’t happen that frequently.

“Our batsmen have the ability, they just need to get used to international cricket. There’s an element of patience that is needed, but I am not advocating bad performances. But we are still quite positive.

“It looked quite bad for the batsmen at the Gabba, the ball was doing absolute heaps. But we will never go down without a fight,” Rabada said.

Vincent Moore was the bowler the Assupol Tukkies could rely on in every game as they swept to a 3-0 victory over the Steinhoff Maties in the Red Bull Campus Cricket South Africa finals in Pretoria and the left-arm paceman is clearly on his way to bigger and better things.

No Tukkies bowler took more than the three wickets Moore claimed and he was also the most economical bowler of the finals, conceding just 4.83 runs per over.

The 20-year-old says he focuses on keeping things simple in T20 cricket, the format in which bowlers are under the most pressure.

“I try and keep things nice and tight, don’t give the batsmen any room, and at the death the key is to keep it simple, bowl yorkers with a standard field.

“You need to be proactive in twenty20 cricket because you can sense when the batsman is going to line you up. Then it’s time to bowl a slower ball or a yorker, or even just change the field,” Moore says.

It’s been an amazing year thus far for Moore, with the former SA U19 player making his franchise debut for the Titans and now helping to catapult Tukkies into the Red Bull Campus Crticket World Finals.

His debut for the Titans came against the Central Knights, the eventual Sunfoil Series four-day runners-up, in Kimberley in February and Moore came in at number 11 and scored 48 not out, sharing a crucial century last-wicket stand with CJ de Villiers that gave the Titans a narrow first-innings lead.

“I’d made three ducks in a row before that innings, so I was quite nervous. I heard a couple of things about myself that day that I didn’t know!” Moore says of the hot reception given to him by the Knights, while staying mum on the details.

His chief job is with the ball, however, and Moore took three for 25 in the second innings to support leg-spinner Shaun von Berg as the Knights were bowled out for just 166 and the Titans registered their first win of the campaign.

Moore played two more matches for the Titans and took three wickets in the first innings against both the Highveld Lions and Western Cape Cobras to support the notion that he will be an important player for the franchise going forward.

“I really enjoyed the experience of playing for the Titans and it has given me massive confidence. I’m going to work hard this winter on getting a bit stronger, because my bowling load is going to increase and I need to stay fit.

“I really want to try and make my name in the longer format because I want to play Test cricket one day. It’s all about hitting good areas at good pace,” Moore says.

The Springs Boys’ High School product certainly has enough pace to rush batsmen, he has the ability to swing the ball and he backs his skills.

Moore gives credit to all the coaches who have influenced him along his road to first-class cricket, from the late Tommy Hammond, a Pietermaritzburg coach who helped him iron out his run-up, to Heinrich Malan of Easterns and now Central Districts in New Zealand, and Ray Jennings, the SA U19 coach who took him to the 2012 Junior World Cup and who Moore credits with teaching him how to think on the cricket field.

Greg Smith, the former Northern Transvaal and Nottinghamshire left-armer, and Dale Steyn are cited as Moore’s role-models, while Tukkies assistant coach Chris van Noordwyk and Morne Morkel have also had important inputs.

“I really enjoyed chatting to Morne in the off-season and the advice he gives about game plans for young bowlers is really good,” Moore says.

The BCom Financial Science student is no doubt going to enjoy the seamer-friendly conditions in England during the Red Bull Campus Cricket World Finals and the powerful Tukkies pace attack that also features Corbin Bosch, Tiaan Koekemoer and Theunis de Bruyn is going to be one of the ones to watch.