Sunrisers Eastern Cape all-rounder Marco Jansen has further fueled his reputation of being a quintessential all-rounder after powering his team to a brilliant victory against MI Cape Town in the recently concluded 12th match of the inaugural season of SA20 at Newlands.
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Coming in to bat at No. 7 in the 13th over, Jansen didn’t see a rosy picture of Sunrisers’ situation after they were reduced to 91/5. Needing 81 runs off 47 balls with half the batters already been dismissed, Jansen was required to do the heavy lifting in order for his team to win a second consecutive match.
With pretty much no assistance from the other end, Jansen registered a solo effort to play a titular role in a 2-wicket last-over victory in Cape Town today. The right-handed batter hit three fours and seven sixes at a strike rate of 244.44 during the course of a match-winning 66 (27).
The sheer fact that Jansen’s knock came against the likes of Kagiso Rabada, Jofra Archer, Sam Curran and Rashid Khan doesn’t need any more of an explanation regarding his quality and potential as a lower-order batter.
Zainab Abbas reacts amusingly after collision with fielder during Marco Jansen boundary
Through the medium of his hard-hitting shots, Jansen not only hurt the home team’s bowlers but also presenter Zainab Abbas. Interviewing a member of the support staff near the boundary, Abbas found herself at the wrong end of her job when a Jansen boundary off Curran came directly towards her.
Aware of the situation, Abbas managed to prevent the ball from hitting her but couldn’t do the same with respect to a diving outfielder. As a result, the two ended up in a collision outside the boundary. Abbas, who was helped by the interviewee, saw the funny side of the incident both during the match and after it on social media platform Twitter.
“I’ve survived, but now I know how it feels! get that ice pack out ..,” Abbas tweeted after the match.
Abbas is part of a star-studded panel consisting of presenters and commentators for SA20 2023.
