After IPL pay rise, Marco Jansen rattles Sri Lanka with career-best Test figures-OxBig News Network

Marco Jansen produced his career-best Test figures as he was unplayable with the red ball on Day 2 of the first Test between South Africa and Sri Lanka at the Kingsmead in Durban. Jansen took seven wickets and conceded just 13 runs as his career-best effort orchestrated Sri Lanka’s massive collapse in their first innings with the bat.

Sri Lanka were bowled out for 42, their lowest Test total in history and the joint-sixth lowest total in the traditional format of the game.

SA vs SL, 1st Test Day 2 Updates

Marco Jansen delivered the second-best figures in Test cricket by a South African fast bowler. The tall left-arm pacer’s spell comes days after he was bought for 7 crore by Punjab Kings, nearly 50 percent more than his previous price of Rs 4.2 crore.

Jansen hit the right lengths and lines on a pitch that was doing enough to make life difficult for the batters. The left-arm pacer did not go searching for wickets and allowed the pitch to do its job on Thursday.

BEST BOWLING FIGURES FOR SOUTH AFRICAN PACERS (TESTS)

• Geoffrey Lawrence: 8 wickets, vs New Zealand, 1961.
• Lance Klusener: 8 wickets, vs India, 1996.
• Sinclair Snooke: 8 wickets, vs England, 1906.
• Allan Donald: 8 wickets, vs Zimbabwe, 1995.
• Marco Jansen: 7 wickets, vs Sri Lanka, 2024.
• George Bissett: 7 wickets, vs England, 1928.
• Kyle Abbott: 7 wickets, vs Pakistan, 2013.
• Makhaya Ntini: 7 wickets, vs West Indies, 2005.

Sri Lanka batters had no answers to the pace burst from South Africa, led by Marco Jansen and Kagiso Rabada.