Proteas left-arm speedster Marco Jansen celebrates a wicket during their Champions Trophy match against England.
Image: Asif Hassan / AFP
Marco Jansen is looking forward to catching up with his golf game after doing the hard yards of securing the Proteas’ passage to the ICC Champions Trophy semi-final.
Jansen picked up three wickets in the Powerplay and also pouched three catches, including a superb running effort that saw him cover 28 metres with those long legs of his at the National Stadium in Karachi on Saturday.
This effort saw England bundled out for just 179 before Rassie van der Dussen (72 not out) and Heinrich Klaasen (64) both struck half-centuries in a 122-run partnership leading to a comprehensive seven-wicket thrashing with more than 20 overs to spare.
With the hard work in the group stages having now been completed, Jansen is looking forward to making the best of an impossible situation that will see the Proteas travel to Dubai and then potentially back to Pakistan a day later for their semi-final depending on the outcome of Sunday’s final Pool A clash between India and New Zealand.
“It's not too much of a hassle, or if you can call it that. Yeah, I don't mind it (the travel),” Jansen said.
“Luckily it's a short flight. It's an hour and a half flight, so it's sort of like a domestic flight back home.
“I haven't played golf in a long time so I'm looking forward to that. I'm pretty excited to play some golf.”
While there may be some who feel that the lanky allrounder should be training in the nets instead of practising his golf swing, there certainly is merit to clearing the mind before a major semi-final.
The ridiculous itinerary that has both Pool B semi-finalists South Africa and Australia travelling to Dubai and then one of them back to Pakistan certainly does require a different approach.
Equally, Jansen does not want to get too caught up in all the noise that surrounds a major ICC tournament semi-final having already experienced two in his short career.
“I wouldn't say the mindset changes, it's just the occasion that's probably a bit more hyped up I guess,” he said.
"You try your processes. It's a fancy term, but for me it's just you have your steps or your guides that you go into every match and then basically in semifinals you just try and do that extraordinarily well if that makes sense, whatever that is for you.
“For me it's just depending on where you play on what lengths to hit and then as a game develops then try and figure out what works and what doesn't work and what to do and what not to do that type of thing. For me, personally, it's just the occasion or the situation of the game probably changes, not really mentally, if that makes sense.”
Jansen looks to be hitting form just at the right time for the Proteas as he decimated England’s top order with the new ball in the helpful Karachi conditions.
“There was a little bit of nip at the start and then once the ball got older there wasn't really much deviation from the wicket,” he said.
“For me it was just backing my options which is probably hitting a hard length and not early on the fullest side rather on the shorter side.
“But yeah for us it's just all about going out and bowling with good intent because then if you bowl with good intent there's more - you tend to have more energy on the ball and then things generally happen when you have good energy on the ball.”
The Proteas have a couple of concerns heading into the semi-final after captain Temba Bavuma and Tony de Zorzi missed the England game due to illness, while stand-in skipper Aiden Markram also left the field with a tight hamstring.
Markram, though, does feel that he should be ready for the semi-finals.
“I think it’s alright,” he said. “Hopefully in the next few days I can get good rest and recover.”
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