Occasionally, Marco Jansen disappears for hours on end. That is when he is home in Gqeberha where he shares accommodation with Wihan Lubbe. Lubbe has known Jansen since the time he was a grade 10 learner. Lubbe used to volunteer as a cricket coach at Jansen’s school.

Jansen likes to take a drive along the Gqeberha coast, find a spot and sit there for a while, lost in thought. This is his ‘me time’. He often passes by the local Mcdonald’s for a milkshake.

Sometimes on these drives, Jansen likes to reflect on what he was and appreciate how far he has come. Just five years ago Marco and Duan had parachuted into the Under-19 camp as unknown quantities. The twins were highly regarded in Potchefstroom, but unknown beyond their small town. They were there because Monty Jacobs had told Laurence Mahatlane to have a look at them.

Jacobs became aware of Marco Jansen first. Niel Bredenkamp called him one night. Bredenkamp had a talented Grade 11 youngster in his team at Potch Dorp Cricket Club. The boy was wasted playing club cricket and deserved to play at a higher level. Jacobs invited the boy to the North West nets. Marco Jansen impressed. Duan was invited to the nets a few days later. Like his brother, he did not disappoint.

Marco Jansen’s arrival at the North West nets brought a new era to the club. Suddenly batters started coming for net sessions with arm guards, chest guards and other protective gear. None were willing to take chances against 140 kph deliveries.

“A week after he had come to the nets, I debuted him in a One-Day Cup match at the Wanderers. It was the final. The boy was bowling faster than Craig Alexander, and Craig is not a slow bowler by any means,” says Jacobs. “I was privileged to come across such exceptional talent.”

Shortly afterwards, Jacobs met Mahatlane at a coaches conference. He told the Under-19 coach that he needed to have a look at the High School kid he had just debuted. When Mahatlane watched the boys, he was impressed. So, he invited them to the Under-19 camp.

Koos Jansen drove the boys to the camp in an aged VW Golf Mk 1. They were late arrivals, the camp was almost halfway through when they got there. Marco and Duan attracted a lot of attention on arrival. It was difficult for them not to do so, they are tall and slim. They look a little out of proportion.

Graham October, one of Cricket South Africa’s talent scouts took to the pair almost immediately. “Before I see a player I see a young man. Marco and Duan were well-behaved young men from the day they arrived. They did not change as the camp progressed. They are still the same today.”

After the boys’ first practice session with the Under-19 team, October asked the pair to Google Bruce Ried and Nathan Bracken as part of their homework. Marco did not understand why October required them to do that. He had never heard of the two Australians and thought they were pop stars.

Marco Jansen likes to think back to those days when he is alone. During his ‘me time’ moments, he is just Marco. He is not Marco the cricketer, just Marco, the young man who was prepared to walk away from a North West contract because the province had offered Duan a junior contract. He believed that his twin, who had just recovered from a shoulder injury, was being treated unfairly. Marco suggested that Duan and he should share a senior contract, as a solution.

Marco the cricketer is different.

“Marco’s body language on the pitch is very different. Off the field, Marco is reserved and considerate, very humble. When he plays he is very competitive,” says October.

Marco and Duan played rugby as youngsters. Rugby is part of the Jansen household, Koos Jansen played provincial rugby back in the day. Marco and Duan played for the North West Leopards’ age-group teams until they were sixteen. Marco played fly-half and Duan, who was two centimetres shorter, played scrum-half. The boys stopped when they had a growth spurt at 17.

Koos Jansen, a former provincial rugby player, trained Marco and Duan when they were younger. He trained them with the intensity that he had once played with. Under Koos’ watchful eye, the boys developed a strong competitive streak – they pushed each other to the limit, whether it was cricket, rugby or athletics.

Marco Jansen brings the same intensity to cricket. He leaves it all on the field. He does not hold back, either with the bat, ball or out in the field.

If you put South African scouts and selectors in a room and asked them to build the ideal cricketer, their construction would resemble Marco Jansen the cricketer a lot. His athleticism and competitive streak make him a joy to watch. And, he is also an all-rounder.

South Africa loves allrounders. In Test cricket, there are only 21 allrounders who averaged less than 35 with the ball and more than 30 with the bat, having scored at least 1000 runs and taken at least 50 wickets. South Africa has three players on that list; Brian McMillan, Shaun Pollock and Jacques Kallis.

South Africa has been trying to recreate that kind of player since Kallis’ retirement. It is very likely that they have found that player in Marco Jansen. He has been a good enough batsman to have batted at seven so far in his Test cricket career. It is not a mistake on the part of the coach and selectors. In his formative years, Marco batted at number four.

“Marco is an allrounder, he is not a bowler that bats. There is a difference between the two,” says Mahatlane. “Of course, his batting will take a little time to develop to world-class levels. That is because batters mature later than bowlers. Most mature at 28. Marco’s development will be no different.”

For his part, Jansen is intent on developing his batting abilities. He might have made his Proteas debut on the strength of his bowling, but he will not let that define who he is as a cricketer. It will take hard work and dedication for him to reach the levels he would like as an all-rounder. Jansen is prepared to put in the work required, he is the embodiment of his former school’s values.

Jansen attended school at Potchefstroom Gimnasium. The school’s crest depicts an anchor, a pick and a shovel. The school’s motto is Fac et Spera, Latin for work and hope. The anchor is the symbol of hope, while the pick and shovel represent work.

What makes Marco Jansen the perfect player for South Africa is that he is not just an all-rounder. The young man stands at 6ft 8in, consistently bowls in the 140 to 145 kh (86 – 90 mph) and is a left-armer. A combination of angle and pace. Left-arm seamers are the most coveted type of pace bowlers in modern cricket. And similar to world-class all-rounders, South Africa has not had a lot of left-arm seamers.

Since readmission, South Africa has only had six left-arm seamers. The Proteas have bowled about 33 000 overs of pace in Test cricket.

Only about 3.4 per cent of those overs have been bowled by left-arm seamers. Brett Schultz, who played his last Test for South Africa in 1997, has bowled 35 per cent of all the overs bowled by left-arm seamers.

Brett Schultz only played nine Tests over a period of five years for the Proteas. Marco Jansen, who made his debut in December 2021, is only three Tests away from equaling Schultz’s record. He is four Tests from becoming South Africa’s most capped left-arm seamer.

When Marco Jansen takes the drive along the coast, he is not South Africa’s prototype for the perfect young player, he is the young man who did not understand what was happening when he realised that he was growing a centimetre taller every month when he was 17.

During his ‘me time’ moments he is Koos Jansen’s son, Duan’s twin brother, a young man from a small town who is trying to make sense of the world.

Main Pic: Muzi Ntombela/BackpagePix