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.

Cold weather and a Hagley Oval pitch that stubbornly refused to quicken up was no antiseptic for the debilitating fast bowling of Kagiso Rabada as he reduced New Zealand to 157/5 at stumps on the second day of the second Test against South Africa in Christchurch on Saturday.

Rabada had bowled superbly to take 3/37 in 12 overs, leaving the Black Caps still 207 runs behind on first innings and extremely grateful for the unbeaten sixth-wicket stand of 66 between Daryl Mitchell (29*) and Colin de Grandhomme (54*) that took them to the close.

It took Rabada just four deliveries to strike, although there was an element of good fortune for the bowler as NZ skipper Tom Latham (0) edged a delivery down the leg-side and was brilliantly caught by diving wicketkeeper Kyle Verreynne.

Rabada’s second wicket came in his third over as he removed the other Kiwi opener, Will Young (3), caught behind with a delivery that climbed steeply outside off-stump.

The ace fast bower’s best wicket was his third and last as he jagged a delivery back into the off-stump of Tom Blundell, who was bowled shouldering arms for six.

With Marco Jansen claiming the key wickets of Devon Conway, also caught behind down the leg-side, for 16 and Henry Nicholls, who was caught by a well-placed deep backward point on 39, New Zealand slumped to 91/5.

But some clean striking by De Grandhomme and Mitchell provided a defiant end to the day for the home side.

South Africa, resuming on 238/3, had earlier posted 364 all out, their best total since scoring 621 against Sri Lanka in the 2020 Boxing Day Test at Centurion.

After the heroics of the first day and Sarel Erwee’s century, they did not make the best start to the second day, however, as their middle-order became bogged down and they crashed to 302/8.

But momentum was regained by a marvellous partnership of 62 off just 79 balls, South Africa’s record for the ninth wicket against New Zealand, between Jansen (37*) and Keshav Maharaj (36).

Left-arm quick Neil Wagner caused most of the damage on Saturday as he took 4/102 in 31 overs, while first Test destroyer Matt Henry claimed 3/90 in 35 overs.

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.

When Chloe Tryon first started playing international cricket back in 2010, South Africa were not considered prime contenders when it came to ICC tournaments. Now, as they prepare for the Women’s World Cup in New Zealand, the Proteas are under ever-more scrutiny as the second-ranked team in ODIs.

It is a pressure the 28-year-old Tryon says they are growing more accustomed to all the time, having learnt plenty of tough lessons from their semi-final exits in the 2017 World Cup and the 2020 T20 World Cup.

“We’ve come close before but been disappointed, so this tournament is about taking the next step,” Tryon said on Wednesday. “We have to make sure we keep it simple, tick all our boxes.

“We will treat it as just another game, but we are used to playing in world cups now, it’s time to make that next step and take a bit more responsibility.

“There’s still a long way to go before the World Cup starts on March 5, so at the moment it’s just about putting the building blocks in place. We’ve dreamt about this for a long time, four years and then it took another year to happen,” Tryon said.

South Africa’s previous visit to New Zealand, in 2020, saw them win the ODI series against their powerful hosts, so they will be confident they have the resources for the playing conditions to enable them to push for glory.

They open their campaign against Bangladesh in Dunedin. In the Group Stage, the eight competing sides will participate in a single-league format with each side playing the other once, the format that was previously used in the 2017 tournament. The top four sides following the conclusion of the league matches will progress to the semi-finals, with the winners meeting in the final on April 3 in Christchurch.