Ken Borland

South Africa’s Marco Jansen not only removed two key New Zealand batsmen with the ball but also made a career-best, momentum-shifting 37 not out with the bat on the second day of the second Test in Christchurch on Saturday, and then said he was in debt to former Proteas batsman Neil McKenzie for helping him with the mental side of batting.

The 21-year-old Jansen has long been considered to have enough ability with the bat to perhaps become a bowling all-rounder, and he certainly did justice to his talent on Saturday as he came in at 277/6 and helped South Africa to a sizeable 364 all out.

They looked like falling well short of that, though, when they slumped to 302/8, before Jansen and Keshav Maharaj (36) belted 62 off 79 deliveries. A fine day for Jansen was then completed with the wickets of Devon Conway (16) and Henry Nicholls (39).

“When I was chosen for the  SA A squad last year, I was fortunate to work with Neil McKenzie [CSA high performance batting lead]. He helped me a lot with the strategic side of batting,” Jansen said.

“It’s all about game-plans and there’s more focus on how I approach my batting mentally. I still work a lot with our Proteas batting coach Justin Sammons as well, we are tweaking my technique, trying to tighten it up a bit.

“Kesh and I decided while we were batting that we would take the positive option. Not be reckless, but if the ball was in our area then we would have a full go.

“You know that the bowlers are going to bowl short at some stage and then you have a choice: To take it on or stand back. I don’t want to ever say I did not give it my all, so I always give a bit more in those situations,” Jansen said.

Growing up with a twin brother, Duan, who is also a talented cricketer, playing for North-West in a similar bowler-who-can-bat role, helped finance a tremendous competitive fire in Marco Jansen. He has given as good as he has received in feisty exchanges already with Indian fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah and with fiery Black Caps paceman Neil Wagner on Saturday.

“My brother and I are very competitive when it’s anything to do with sport,” Jansen said. “Whenever there’s a bit of an edge to the contest, then I try to always bring that bit extra, I see it as my one opportunity and I give everything.

“It’s a huge honour for me every time I walk on the field with that green cap on, so I just try and grab every opportunity now with both hands. Neil Wagner as always came hard, especially with the short balls.

“A few words were said, but it wasn’t that heated, just two guys being very competitive. I spoke Afrikaans to him and he replied in English … ” Jansen confirmed.

Thirty-two year old opener Sarel Erwee has worked very hard to get to the top of the cricket pile and the left-hander made sure he enjoyed the view on Friday as he notched his maiden Test century to give South Africa the advantage after the first day of the second Test against New Zealand at the Hagley Oval in Christchurch.

Erwee, playing in just his second Test, showed great maturity and shot-selection as he scored 108 to lead the Proteas to a rock-solid 238/3 at stumps.

South Africa were batting first having made a surprise decision at the toss, but captain Dean Elgar’s hunch that the pitch did not look as green as the one for the first Test, proved spot-on.

Elgar and Erwee were impressively watchful but positive in their intent whether defending or attacking as they backed up the brave decision at the toss with a wonderful opening stand that took the Proteas to 80/0 at lunch.

New Zealand eventually made their first breakthrough half-an-hour after lunch when Elgar, having scored a tenacious 41, was beaten and bowled all-ends-up by a superb Tim Southee delivery that was angled into the left-hander before nipping away to hit the top of off-stump.

Erwee batted on, however, going to his century in the over before tea, having stroked 13 fours in 188 balls. His driving through the covers and straight, and his clips off his pads, were particularly pleasing on the eye.

Aiden Markram, his Test career in flux, dug himself in carefully, building a vital second-wicket stand of 88 with Erwee. The Test rookie showed great composure through the ebbs and flows of his innings, as did Markram as they rode out a particularly testing period before tea when the Black Caps bowled five consecutive maiden overs.

Markram was just starting to shift gears and had played a number of fine attacking strokes to boost his score to 42 when he suffered a lapse in concentration, driving at a full, wide delivery from left-armer Neil Wagner and edging into the slips.

It ended a highly promising innings, plus New Zealand managed to add the wicket of Erwee in the next over, being caught behind off Matt Henry.

The two quick strikes led to a lift in intensity from the bowlers and Temba Bavuma survived a couple of edges through the slips and Rassie van der Dussen was dropped on 7 at midwicket by Will Young off Henry.

But they were both there at the end, ready to resume on the second day with Van der Dussen on 13 and Bavuma having added 22.

Given what transpired in the first Test, the opening day of the second Test was a massive positive for South Africa.

South Africa are hosting the FIH Hockey Pro League in Potchefstroom over the next fortnight with high hopes of being competitive, but the multitude of unforced errors they made caused a most adverse outcome in their opening match against the Netherlands on Tuesday night as they were hammered 11-1.

The Netherlands scored first, in the seventh minute, through a penalty stroke by Tim Swaen after an early defensive mistake by the hosts.

And the third-ranked Dutch side stamped their dominance on the game from the second quarter as they went into halftime 4-1 up.

The floodgates really opened in the final quarter as the Netherlands more than doubled a 5-1 lead, scoring four goals in the first six minutes.

South Africa, ranked 14^th in the world, equalised at 1-1 in the 20^th minute through Bili Ntuli’s excellent deflection of a reverse-sticks cross from Mustapha Cassiem, but they didn’t have a prayer thereafter.

Their main failing was their inability to hold on to the ball, basic mistakes gifting possession to the Dutch, and there was also some naïve defending.

Jip Janssen, with two set-piece goals, Swaen, Thierry Brinkman and Thijs van Dam, with two goals apiece, were South Africa’s chief tormentors.

“We played badly against a good team,” South Africa coach Garreth Ewing summed up succinctly. “We lost our shape completely in the last 30 minutes. But hopefully we have all learnt a lot.

“There’s a lot to take on board. This was a reminder of where we are in world hockey. We will have to come out with the right attitude tomorrow night against India.”

India beat France 5-0 in Tuesday’s other game.

Rugby made the front pages of the celebrity magazines this week with the news that Prince Louis, the three-year-old son of Prince William and Catherine, the Duchess of Cambridge, loves playing the sport although his mother is a little concerned with how he always seems to be “in the middle of everything”.

It reminds one of South Africa’s very own modern-day prince of the backline, Lukhanyo Am. But while Prince Louis’ involvement is described as “kamikaze” by his mother, Am’s impact on the rugby field is anything but.

The much-loved Springbok and Sharks centre is a hugely influential player and leader for both teams. But he fulfils both roles with such calm, unflustered assurance that he seems to be gliding around the field, and he is definitely someone who leads by quiet, stellar example rather than by stirring words.

And his own mother, Zukiswa, still features large in his life. As do his siblings.

Now an international star and a certainty for most sensible peoples’ World XV (some even tipped him to be World Player of the Year for 2021), Am is a celebrity in his own right and in his own modest, self-effacing way.

With Sharks CEO Eduard Coetzee confirming that their salary to Am is based on their belief that he is the best outside centre in the world, the 28-year-old could spend his time away from rugby doing any manner of glamourous, exotic pursuits. But in lieu of the bright lights of fame, he returns to family and the values that were inculcated in him from a young age.

“Off the field, I’m very much a family man. My Mom and my siblings, and my extended family, that’s where my heart is,” Am told The Citizen. “Whenever I get a break from rugby, with all the travel we do anyway, I don’t take vacations.

“If I want to feel refreshed, I go where I came from – King Williams Town – and just relax with my family.”

While he is in Durban, on duty for the Sharks as he has been since joining the franchise in 2015, Am has similarly calming ways of getting away from rugby.

“The coaches are usually drilling us in training,” Am smiles, “so days off are all about recovery, relaxing and just spending time off the legs. We are very fortunate with the weather here in Durban and having the ocean right here. A good beach walk really helps me to switch off.”

And it’s little wonder that Am needs time to switch off because that astute rugby brain is constantly organising, analysing and adapting to what comes up on the field. Am reads the game so brilliantly that one is reminded of how Naas Botha used to pull the strings for the Bulls and the Springboks back in the day. Am does not use his boot as often, but his vision in terms of defence and attack is second to none.

The fierce focus the De Vos Malan High School product brings to the game applies to both matchday and the training field.

“Now that I’ve managed to establish myself I’m in a really happy space,” Am says. “My focus is on my goals, which are controlling my performance and improving my game each time I am on the field.

“As soon as the season is starting with the Sharks, my focus is on being the best I can be and then transferring that to the national side. But I don’t look too far ahead because of the different challenges we face nowadays and there is always the risk of injuries.

“I just work on being the best I can be. I’ve always been that way, my focus is on my performance and doing the right things right. Making sure everything is in place to do that. That is what has worked really well for me in the past.

“I take it a game at a time, and then focus on the next one. I analyse myself, where I am at in my game and where I want to be. I just try to tick those small boxes,” Am said.

Despite being raised in the troubled, poverty-stricken surrounds of Zwelitsha in the 1990s, Am was a lover of sport from a young age.

“At school, I was a sports fanatic, those are the memories I have of growing up. Playing cricket, watching athletics, the most fun was always on Saturdays.

“I played cricket until the end of high school. It was a 90s thing: cricket, soccer and rugby were everywhere in the township and when I went to high school I was already comfortable in all three sports.

“I was actually very passionate about my cricket, but as I got older, so rugby took over me. I guess because I was strong at a young age,” Am said.

He also has a most mature head on young shoulders, a characteristic which comes through in aspects of his life outside of rugby.

“Relaxing at home, I listen to tunes. But I guess I’m an old soul because I like things like deep house. But I have no specific favourite genre, I’ll pick whatever goes with my emotion at the time.

“Whatever will calm or relax me, whatever is relevant to how I’m feeling at the time, is what I’ll listen to.”

It’s a thoroughly sensible way of looking at the world. But then again, Lukhanyo Am is a thoroughly sensible person; a top-class rugby player and a wonderful human being.