Ken Borland

Marco Jansen announced himself in the IPL back in April, but over the next couple of months the six-foot-eight 21-year-old could really burst on to the international scene as he is tipped to make his Test debut against India, either on Boxing Day or in the New Year.

And the good news is that Jansen is in fine form, having shone during the SA A series against India A that ended last week. In six first-class matches this summer for Eastern Province Warriors and SA A, he has taken 17 wickets at an average of 20.29. On a flat Bloemfontein pitch, Jansen troubled the India A batsmen more than his returns suggested.

“I was very pleased with how that series went because Bloemfontein is not easy for seam bowlers,” Jansen told The Citizen on Monday. “I just tried to be as consistent as possible.

“Fortunately I played a bit of four-day cricket before the series and it’s all about consistency otherwise you won’t get that rhythm or be on a good run. I’m bowling well at the moment because I’m consistent and hopefully I get to play one or two games for the Proteas.”

Growing up in Potchefstroom and starting his professional career in Bloemfontein, Jansen has certainly honed his skills on the sort of good batting pitches you get at Test level.

“When I look at a pitch and realise that it’s flat, I try and take responsibility and be as consistent as possible in terms of where I land the ball and how much energy I put in.

“Growing up in Potch, it was easy to get deflated and not give 100% all the time. But the players in Bloem helped me and I developed a new mindset – not to shy away, to go harder when it’s flat, be even more consistent and bowl with more energy,” Jansen said.

Having played for Mumbai Indians this year and now taken on India A, Jansen has plenty of intel in the memory bank for when the Test team arrives.

“It helps to know how they think and I know most of them. If I do get a chance to play against them, then you want to play better than them. You look forward to it especially because you know them.

“Someone like Hanuma Vihari, man he faced a lot of balls in the SA A/India A series! When I hear his name, I just see balls and balls. We actually chatted a lot and he batted really well in those conditions.

“We spent a lot of time joking around too and I told him that there will be a bit more bounce in Pretoria and Johannesburg, there’s no other pitch like Bloem in the country. I told him he better get his plans together!”

Likewise, Proteas fans can bank on Jansen, if he does make his debut, having both a plan and great form to rely upon.

A new year brings new challenges for the Interim Board of Cricket South Africa with arrangements for the Australian Test tour needing to be made and a new structure for the organisation now being considered by the directors.

Judge Zak Yacoob, the chairman of the Interim Board, said on Thursday that he was confident the incoming tour by Australia would take place, although he did let slip that it is now expected to take place only in April.

“The Australia tour will go ahead at this stage. A week ago I had a chat with the head of Cricket Australia and we agreed that we would make sure the facilities are as good as necessary. Not that we did anything wrong when England were here because none of their players were affected by Covid. But our learnings on this virus changes all the time, it is unpredictable.

“But we both have doctors and other experts who will lead us through and if they say our facilities are fine then I have no doubt that the tour will go ahead, unless things take a real turn for the worse. But cricket fans must know that if they comply with all the precautions then they are not only doing it for themselves but doing it in the interests of cricket. I know we are looking at April,” Yacoob said.

The Interim Board’s term of office expires on February 15 and Yacoob said their focus in the next three weeks would be on formulating a new structure for the board.

“Our most important consideration now is how to change the structure of CSA to ensure it works better, and that is an independent process because we have no intention of being on any future CSA board. The main objective is to ensure that the Memorandum of Incorporation (MoI) and the Board Charter are changed in accordance with the Nicholson recommendations i.e. the need for an independent board.

“We are trying to work through what the power of the Members Council should be and the one conclusion is that we cannot have two centres of power. We have decided it would be preferable for the Board to be in control of day-to-day operational matters. If the directors are independent then they will have no personal interest in the decisions taken,” Yacoob said.

While one former director – Omphile Ramela, the previous president of the players’ union – has launched court action to overturn his removal from the Board, another – former Easterns president Xolani Vonya – has been reinstated as a director.

The move seems part of a more conciliatory tone towards the Members Council.

“Mr Vonya is back, because the Board decided that may be better. Some of the reasons for his removal were not fully justified, Easterns did not fully justify their very serious allegations against him. On balance, we had a rethink and decided to be more generous towards him.

“We have not yet really engaged the Members Council on the new MoI and I suspect there will be a difference of opinion, which is justifiable. An independent Board does reduce the power of the Members Council but I am certain they will operate in good faith. There will be genuine and bona fide debate over how independent the Board should be.

“One can get carried away and get people who know nothing about the game and you obviously need to avoid that. The Members Council have to appoint us again and if they don’t approve us again then off we go on February 15 unless the Minister of Sport does something. We would have to tell the Minister that we have not finished our work, but I personally would not implore him to intervene, he must make an objective decision,” Yacoob said.

Coming into the new year, the Cape Cobras were so far above them on the Four-Day Domestic Series log that the Highveld Lions players almost had to rick their necks to see them. That was after the Lions had made such a train wreck of their first game back after the Mzansi Super League triumph that they had been thrashed by 279 runs by the Dolphins at the Wanderers.

But they managed to chase down the high-flying Cobras and then showed the same never-say-die spirit to seal the deal and claim the four-day title in the most dramatic fashion in the penultimate over of their final game, in Potchefstroom this week.

So how exactly did they pull off one of the most remarkable comebacks in South African first-class history?

“It was a great, spirited effort and we toiled hard, plus it is never easy to get a result in Potchefstroom. It took a massive effort because things have not been all rosy here for the last couple of years but the new management and leadership has restored confidence. It was important that we all just stayed with each other.

“We kept our energy and focus and we had to keep believing we still had a chance. You’ve just got to keep in the game, even though I saw some heads drop when the rain came in Potchefstroom. We’ve tried to be a lot more positive this season, to always try and take the game forward. It’s mostly the same personnel, so it’s just been the approach and the language we use that has made the difference,” captain Temba Bavuma said as the Lions celebrated their success at the Wanderers on Friday.

Head coach Enoch Nkwe has now robed himself in two major trophies since taking over at the Wanderers, but on Friday had flown to the Netherlands to be with his family. Assistant coach Wandile Gwavu spoke in his place about how trusting the 21 players they used in the four-day competition had been a key ingredient in their success.

“Enoch’s most important word was ‘trust’ and he must take a lot of credit. When new players came in and performed so well it was because they knew they were trusted and what was expected of them. We believed from the start of the year that we could still win. The Cobras are a very inexperienced unit in four-day cricket and we thought they might have a blip.

“So we just wanted to make sure we were right behind them, we just wanted to stay as close as possible to them. But you still have to give them and Ashwell Prince a lot of credit because they led the competition for 39 out of 40 days, so we have a lot of respect for them still. Having our experienced players like Temba, Stephen Cook and Malusi Siboto went a long way for us,” Gwavu said.

New players who have announced themselves in this campaign have been batsmen Kagiso Rapulana (average 84.40) and Wihan Lubbe (two centuries), left-arm quick Nandre Burger (18 wickets at 22.38) and all-rounder Delano Potgieter, with his remarkable century and four wickets on debut in the final game.

Having stuck to their task with great resilience, the Lions are now enjoying the sweet smell of success.

Despite their dire mismanagement of the postponed T20 Global League, Cricket South Africa (CSA) look set to take on the South African Cricketers’ Association (Saca) in the new year in a bid to weaken what they perceive as the players’ undue influence on the game in this country.

Speaking with CSA president Chris Nenzani alongside him, acting CEO Thabang Moroe said on Wednesday that CSA would be pushing towards plans to dictate to the Proteas what franchise they should play for and to renegotiate the revenue-sharing deal which has been in place with the players for several years.

Given the level of uncertainty surrounding the majority of players in South Africa, and the numerous lucrative offers they are tempted with from overseas, any aggressive moves by CSA are likely to antagonise their most valuable assets and chase them away to greener pastures.

“The Proteas need to be allocated to franchise teams or there could even be a draft system. We want all our Proteas to participate domestically. We were very happy with the RamSlam T20 Challenge, but it could have been even better if all the Proteas were playing at once in different teams.

“Change is definitely needed and it’s unfair on those unions that work so hard to develop players and then lose them, what are these franchises doing in their own provinces? We might not even consult Saca. The players are our employees and in the corporate world, when you are an employee, you just get an e-mail saying ‘this is the new direction, this is the way it’s going to go’.

“A trade union doesn’t have a say in our view of how our company should be run and how we engage with trade unions. There is no room for a union to intervene if CSA decide to go in a different direction. There is nothing to stop us from moving away from revenue-sharing. CSA makes the money for cricket in this country and not the players’ union,” Moroe said in Port Elizabeth.

When asked about how much money CSA had lost due to the postponement of the T20 Global League, Moroe could not resist another attack on the players.

“The money we spent on upgrading facilities has not been lost, the money we spent on buying the trophy has not been lost. The only money we’ve lost is what we paid to players for not even bowling a ball,” he said.

Moroe and Nenzani defended the board’s handling of former CEO Haroon Lorgat and his failed business plan for the T20 Global League, saying they had to resist the urges to interfere until it became absolutely necessary.

“We had management that had performed extremely well in the past and the board had complete trust in them. They drive the projects and the board does not want to interfere in daily operations, but we do get regular reports. We only became uncomfortable with the details in June/July,” Nenzani said.

https://citizen.co.za/sport/south-africa-sport/sa-cricket-sport/1769502/1769502/