Marco Jansen says the Proteas can stay focused and overcome their poor form in knockout matches after they reached the Champions Trophy semi-finals by beating England on Saturday.

The 24-year-old paceman destroyed the England top order with 3-39. He also took three catches as South Africa dismissed their Group B rivals for 179 in 38.2 overs.

The Proteas chased down the target for the loss of three wickets in 29.1 overs with Rassie van der Dussen hitting an unbeaten 72 and Heinrich Klaasen 64.

Jansen was named Man of the Match.

The victory meant South Africa topped the group with five points while Australia finished second with four.

Their semi-final opponents will be decided by the result of the India-New Zealand Group A match in Dubai on Sunday.

HIGHLIGHTS: Proteas vs England (Champions Trophy)

South Africa’s habit of choking at the knockout stage has deprived them of an international title since they won the 1998 Champions Trophy, then named the ICC Knock-out tournament.

Jansen said the Proteas do not need to change much in the playoffs.

“I wouldn’t say the mindset changes it’s just the occasion that’s probably a bit more hyped up I guess,” said Jansen.

South Africa lost to Australia in the 2023 ODI World Cup semi-finals while they were upstaged by India in last year’s T20 World Cup final.

“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 semi-finals you just try and do that extraordinarily well.”

Jansen said a team’s mentality doesn’t change.

“For me, it’s just depending on where you play on what lengths to hit and then as a game develops then try and figuring out what works and what doesn’t work.

“For me personally, it’s just the occasion or the situation of the game probably changes, not really mentally, if that makes sense.”

India will play their semi-final in Dubai, with the other match in Lahore.

Jansen said India will be familiar with the conditions, having played all their matches in Dubai.

“If we play in Dubai and it’s against India, obviously they’ve had training and that kind of stuff, so they will be more used to the conditions.

“But we’ve also played in Dubai, so it’s not something new. We play spin really, really well. So, I don’t think it’s that much or that too much of an advantage.

“I just think it all comes down to on the day who plays better.”

MORE: Proteas caught up in tangled scheduling

The Proteas will assess captain Temba Bavuma and opener Tony de Zorzi – who were both unwell and missed the game against England.

Stand-in skipper Aiden Markram also left the field and did not bat after suffering a stiff hamstring.

© Agence France-Presse

Photo: Chris Hyde/ICC via Getty Images

Marco Jansen on the Proteas’ convincing win against England in Karachi and the possibility of playing India in Dubai.

Sunrisers Eastern Cape superstar Marco Jansen won’t have any more space on his mantelpiece before long.

Jansen is collecting awards at the conclusion of almost every competition, with the all-rounder winning both the SA20 Player of the Season and Bowler of the Season for 2025 on Saturday evening at the Wanderers.

The 24-year-old won the Rising Star Award last season and is the current CSA Men’s Player of the Year.

“All my trophies are on my TV cabinet at the moment, but no, I’m just really pleased with the awards,” Jansen told SA20.

“Yeah, obviously we didn’t win the final, but for me personally, I still feel really well about my game. I think the performances I gave [this season] were a lot more consistent.”

Jansen is certainly fully deserving of both awards. The all-rounder was excellent with the ball throughout, topping the wicket-takers charts with 19 at an average of 18.42, while he also contributed 204 runs at a strike rate of 125.1.

The satisfaction of producing these excellent results are even sweeter for Jansen after he missed virtually the entire international winter season to undergo a 12-month conditioning programme. ​

It was designed to build Jansen’s strength and fitness for him to operate at peak performance during the latter part of the summer.

“I am a bit tired, but physically I still feel good. I did have one or two niggles, but our physio helped me with that. But all in all, I still feel really strong,” Jansen said.

“It means that all the hard work I’ve put in, that off-period I had, those three months, whatever work I did, helped and contributed to this.”

Jansen’s heroics with bat and ball were not enough to drive the Sunrisers to a championship three-peat but watching the 2.06m fast bowler charge in with the new ball during the powerplay was certainly one of the highlights of the competition.

“I’m really pleased with having struck a lot in the powerplay, which is my goal or which is my job. I felt I bowled well this season,” he said.

“Obviously the new ball is probably the best chance to get a wicket because the ball is swinging, the ball is nipping, the wicket is fresh. The batters, they’re just getting in, so they have to play, they have to look at the ball, they have to see, they have to react.

“I think mentality-wise, I try to take a wicket every single ball. And then depending on whether the ball swings or not, I just try and adapt from that.

“If the ball nips, then I try to bowl a bit straighter. If the ball swings, I’ll try to bowl more full-stump lines, and then just take it from there.”

2025 SA20 award winners

Player of the Season: Marco Jansen (Sunrisers Eastern Cape)
Batsman of the Season: Lhuan-dre Pretorius (Paarl Royals)
Bowler of the Season: Marco Jansen (Sunrisers Eastern Cape)
Rising Star: Dewald Brevis (MI Cape Town)
Dispatch of the Season: Donovan Ferreira (Joburg Super Kings)
Catch of the Season: Dewald Brevis (MI Cape Town)

Photo: Sportzpics/Shaun Roy

Kagiso Rabada struck twice and Marco Jansen once to put Pakistan in deep trouble at Newlands.

Photo: Ashley Vlotman/Gallo Images

Pakistan were reeling in response to a relentless Proteas batting performance on the second day of the second Test against Pakistan at Newlands.

Pakistan were 64-3 at the close after double centurion Ryan Rickelton led South Africa to a first-innings total of 615.

Kagiso Rabada struck twice and Marco Jansen once when Pakistan started their innings. The tourists were effectively four down because opening batsman Saim Ayub was ruled out of the match with a broken right ankle.

Babar Azam, forced to open the batting in Ayub’s absence, was 31* at the close with his side still 551 runs behind.

Left-handed opening batsman Rickelton made a chanceless 259, South Africa’s joint seventh highest Test score, before he was seventh man out with the total on 557.

Proteas captain Temba Bavuma opted to keep Pakistan in the field until the last man, 18-year-old debutant Kwena Maphaka, was out 40 minutes after tea.

By then, South Africa had added 299 runs to their overnight 316-4, scoring at almost five runs an over.

HIGHLIGHTS: Proteas vs Pakistan (2nd Test, Day 2)

Resuming on 176, Rickelton was content to play the anchor role while Kyle Verreynne hit 100 off 147 balls in a sixth-wicket partnership of 148 off 222 deliveries.

Verreynne holed out to deep midwicket after an innings which included five sixes as well as nine fours, but Rickelton continued to bat flawlessly while Jansen thrashed a 42-ball half-century.

A rapid seventh-wicket stand of 86 was ended when Rickelton was caught at mid-on going for a big hit after batting for 607 minutes. He faced 343 balls and hit 29 fours and three sixes.

Jansen was out for 62 off 54 balls, but Keshav Maharaj hit 40 off 35 deliveries as the bowlers continued to take a pounding.

South Africa’s innings ended when Maphaka was bowled second ball for nought to become the 100th Test wicket for Mohammad Abbas.

At 18 years 270 days, Maphaka became South Africa’s youngest Test player when the match started on Friday.

Abbas took 3-94, while wicketkeeper Mohammad Rizwan held six catches in the South African innings.

Pakistan captain Shan Masood was caught at first slip off Rabada for two in the first over of his team’s reply.

Kamran Ghulam was bowled by Jansen for 12 and Saud Shakeel was out for nought, providing a second catch for David Bedingham at first slip off Rabada.

Pakistan were floundering at 20-3, before Babar and Rizwan put on an unbeaten 44 for the fourth wicket as the day’s play ended.

© Agence France-Presse

Photo: Ashley Vlotman/Gallo Images

Kagiso Rabada and Marco Jansen’s 51-run partnership got the Proteas over the line in Centurion.

Photo: Christiaan Kotze/Gallo Images

Kagiso Rabada turned batting hero as he and Marco Jansen took South Africa to a dramatic two-wicket win over Pakistan on the fourth day of the first Test in Centurion.

Needing 148 to win, the Proteas crashed to 99-8 against superb bowling by Mohammad Abbas.

The 34-year-old Abbas took a career-best 6-54.

But Rabada, so often a match-winner as a bowler, went on the attack as a batsman, hitting an unbeaten 31 off 26 balls, while Jansen provided solid support in making 16*.

“It is an emotional moment for me,” Proteas captain Bavuma said at the post-match presentation.

“As a team, we have overcome a lot. We haven’t been super-dominant with our performances, we haven’t been ruthless but we have always found a way to ensure the result was on our side.

“Today was testament to that. It speaks a lot to the talent and character of the group.”

HIGHLIGHTS: Proteas vs Pakistan (1st Test, Day 4)

Abbas bowled unchanged for 19.3 overs, four of them on Saturday when he took his first two wickets, in a spell of unremitting accuracy on a pitch which gave seam bowlers help throughout the match.

It was a remarkable comeback for Abbas, whose previous Test appearance was against the West Indies in Kingston in August 2021.

But it was not quite enough for Pakistan, seeking their first win in South Africa in 18 years.

The result ensured qualification for the Proteas in the World Test Championship final in England next June.

Aiden Markram and Temba Bavuma batted solidly at the start of the day after resuming on 27-3.

Markram and Bavuma put on 43 for the fourth wicket, with Bavuma surviving on 14, and getting six runs, when he hooked Abbas to fine leg, where Naseem Shah stepped over the boundary in catching the ball.

Markram looked secure but was bowled by Abbas for 37 by a virtually unplayable ball which kept low and seamed back off the pitch.

Bavuma and David Bedingham added another 34 runs until Bavuma uncharacteristically charged down the pitch at Abbas and was given out caught behind for 40.

He walked off immediately but Ultra Edge technology showed the only ‘spike’ was when the ball brushed his trouser pocket.

It was the first of four wickets which fell for three runs in 12 balls.

Naseem Shah bowled Kyle Verreynne and Abbas had Bedingham and Corbin Bosch caught behind off successive deliveries.

Rabada and Jansen saw South Africa through to lunch at 116-8, then polished off the match in just 5.3 overs after the interval, with each stroke cheered by the home spectators.

© Agence France-Presse

Photo: Lee Warren/Gallo Images

Marco Jansen on his six-wicket haul in Centurion and what he thinks the pitch will do on day four as the Proteas chase 148 for victory.

Debutant Corbin Bosch hit 81* and left-arm fast bowler Marco Jansen claimed two late wickets as South Africa took control on the second day of the first Test against Pakistan in Centurion. (more…)

Marco Jansen on bowling Sri Lanka out for 42 and taking a career-best 7-13 that included three no-balls. (more…)