South Africans say they pride themselves on their ability to bounce back but that shouldn't mean they need to be completely down and out first. That's the perspective of Marco Jansen, who has starred with bat (85 off 100 balls), ball (5 for 33 in the first innings) and in the field (one catch to break the biggest partnership in Australia's second innings so far) in the St George's Park Test, where South Africa are much improved from their 214-run Durban beating.
"Test cricket is all about resilience, coupled with consistency. It's very easy to let the game leak. For us, it's just all about trying to do the right thing for as long as possible," Jansen said after day four. "Resilience isn't always if your back's against the wall. Resilience can also be making good decisions and just sticking to a plan. Test cricket tests every single aspect of you so you have to have the attitude of: it doesn't matter what happens, I'm going to come back again and again and again."
You'd argue that South Africa very much had their backs against the walls coming into and for the first two-and-a-half days of this Test. Their batting line-up was exposed in Durban, where they lost heavily and were in danger of going the same way at 110 for 6 in this game. It was only when Jansen got together with Temba Bavuma that momentum started to shift South Africa's way. By the time he was dismissed, they were near their first target and there was more to come. "We knew we were going to have to bat well and get a decent score. At one stage, we thought 250 was going to be a good score," he said. "Luckily for us, we just capitalised."
It was not as simple as that as Bavuma played arguably the defining knock of his career, characterised by extreme restraint while Australia, without Josh Hazlewood for a long period due to illness, were guilty of not having too many plans beyond the short ball one. Jansen wasn't thinking of any of that when he joined Bavuma, mindful that with the time already lost in the game, he had to stay in the moment. "As soon as you get too ahead of yourself, your mind's not where it should be," he said. "You think of how things might play out, but in fact you can only do what you can do with the present ball and then the next ball and the next ball. We did that really well."
With five Test fifties to his name, Jansen has done more than enough to be thought of as a genuine allrounder, who could even come in a position higher for South Africa, and that's something he would relish. "It's all about my mental approach. I'm not the most technically sound or beautiful-looking batter, but I know I can trust my hands," Jansen said. "If I think in a positive way, I'm already giving myself the best chance to execute whatever shot I'm trying to execute. In the past, there was a bit of doubt in terms of the way I wanted to go about it. I was always trying to lean towards the positive option."
A glance at the scorecard will say that proactive play is exactly what he tried to do in this match but there were elements of discernment. The second ball Jansen faced, for example, he edged, but because he played with soft hands rather than going for a booming drive, the ball went to ground before it reached the cordon. It's a small indicator, but an indicator nonetheless, that he was not just reacting to the rushes of blood to the head. But those rushes were there, and Jansen acknowledged he got away with a few. "Playing an innings like that, you need a bit of luck. There was one top edge that fell in no man's land and a pull shot that went for six just over the boundary."
Fortune may have played some part but skill had something to do with it too and South Africa showed that with ball in hand. The availability and inclusion of Kagiso Rabada proved to elevate the rest of the bowling line-up's performances as well. And while Jansen was slightly off radar in Durban, he was much more focused in Gqeberha. Crucially, he wasn't tempted to use his height to only deliver a barrage of bouncers. He also found a slightly fuller length, which leaves batters in two minds about whether to play or leave.
With Rabada creating pressure on the other end with furious pace, Jansen could play with more freedom than when he felt he led the attack a week ago and he got it right. "I thought I hit a good length," he said. "Here, the ball maybe got a bit more bounce or a bit more seam and fortunately for me, it just got the edge."
And he thanked his fielders for doing their bit too. "It's one thing to bowl a certain way, but it's another thing to be backed up by the fielders as well," he said. "(Simon) Harmer took absolute stunners there, and also Aiden Markram with that great catch in the second slip. Everything basically going our way, it's a nice feeling."
But it's not something South Africa expect will continue without a lot of effort. Though they are ahead of the game and six wickets away from closing it out, they're also prepared for the possibility they will have a score to chase especially if Travis Head, on 87*, keeps going.
The situation has left the series intriguingly poised, with the chance of taking things 1-1 to Cape Town very much alive. Whatever happens in the end, the contest has delivered on its promise to pit two teams who tend to bring out the best in each other against each other. Both have thrown punches and Jansen just hopes South Africa's can be harder on the final day.
"We all knew this series was going to be a good one because both teams can beat anyone. It just literally depends on who's more disciplined and who's more on it and who's more consistent from a bowling perspective, and from a batting perspective who leaves better and who plays the short ball better at stages," Marco Jansen said.
"In the first Test, they played the short ball a lot better than what we did. They bowled a lot better. They batted better. In this Test, we probably placed the short ball a bit better. And we bowled in better areas for a longer period."