Congratulations to Marco and Duan Jansen, who on Sunday became the first twins to play in the same international match for South Africa. They lined up as the Jansen twins Wanderers fans had waited years to see, in the Pink ODI against Australia, and the Proteas won by 32 runs to take an unbeatable 2-0 lead in the three-match series.
It took nearly five years from Marco’s first Proteas cap for his brother to stand next to him. Wednesday in Potchefstroom, a short drive from Klerksdorp where they were born, is the hometown encore.
South Africa has fielded brothers together before, Albie and Morne Morkel among them, but never twins.
South Africa posted 365 for 9 after David Miller’s career-best 142 off 93 balls and Temba Bavuma’s 103 put on 156 together. The finish belonged to the Jansen twins. Marco swatted two sixes in 19 off 15 before falling to Jack Edwards, and Duan closed the innings unbeaten on 27 off 18.
BusinessDay described it as late thumping from the pair, with Duan ending the innings with a sweetly struck straight drive. It was only his third ODI.
With the ball, Marco took 2 for 53 from seven overs. Duan bowled five overs for 44 without a wicket as Mitch Marsh and Travis Head, both on 84, opened with a 130-run stand. The spinners then choked Australia’s chase, and the tourists were bowled out for 333 with one ball left.
Marco said it out loud before the series. He told The Citizen: “To play any game for the Proteas together would be special. But I think if it were to happen in Potch, that would be even more special.”
The catch that set it up
Sunday only mattered because of Thursday at Kingsmead. Australia were 215 for 7 in the 37th over, needing 83 from 83 balls, with Matt Renshaw on 44 and still dangerous.
Gerald Coetzee dropped short, Renshaw pulled, and Marco sprinted in from square leg, launched his 2.03m frame full length and took it in his right hand, the ball lodged between thumb and index finger just above the grass. Australia’s chase died right there and South Africa won by 67 runs.
Marco Jansen had made 75 off 59 balls and taken a wicket in that game. Dale Steyn, who coached him at Sunrisers, summed it up in one line.
Dale Steyn, former Proteas fast bowler
“Marco Jansen has the best hands in cricket.”
The Jansen twins Wanderers moment was years in the making
Nobody ever published a policy against picking the brothers together. The drag was structural, and it started with the fact that they do the same job.
Both stand 2.03m, both bowl left-arm fast and both bat right-handed in the lower order. ESPNcricinfo put it plainly, noting that the overlap may make picking them together difficult, and Duan has said the same thing himself.
Marco also got there first. He made his domestic debut nine months before his brother and his Proteas debut in December 2021. Duan waited until August 2026.
Two foot injuries and limited game time at North West slowed Duan down. He came close to walking away from the game before family support, sports psychology and a move to the Titans turned it around. Selectors weren’t blocking a finished product. One twin had simply already claimed the seat.
The franchise auctions kept them apart too. Marco’s T20 years ran through Sunrisers Hyderabad and Sunrisers Eastern Cape. Duan went to Mumbai Indians, MI Cape Town and then Joburg Super Kings, with a title at the St Kitts and Nevis Patriots in 2022 and a stint at Gloucestershire along the way.
Steyn, who coached the bowlers at both Sunrisers franchises, is the only high-profile voice on record saying a team should buy Duan specifically to line up next to Marco. That call only made sense because the Sunrisers didn’t own him.
Before Sunday, the Jansen twins had played together only twice in senior professional cricket, both times in North West colours.
When Duan Jansen finally got his first cap in Namibia, Marco was left out to manage his body ahead of the home Test summer. The call-ups arrived close together, but the calendar still kept them apart.
The Australia series changed that through injury. Ottneil Baartman was ruled out of the series with a hamstring injury, and Duan came in as his replacement on the back of four wickets in an ODI against Namibia.
Head coach Shukri Conrad called Duan a great addition, saying the squad is better for the extra all-rounder if he does even half of what Marco has done. That is depth talk, not a promise that both would play.
The brothers never pretended otherwise. Duan has called playing together for the Proteas a personal goal, while accepting that they might have to rotate, with one playing and one sitting, as long as both keep doing their jobs.
After the squad came out, the Proteas’ official channels ran it with a simple line: Seeing Double. On Sunday, with Ryan Rickelton unavailable and Corbin Bosch and Coetzee rested, the roles, the injuries and the calendar lined up at last.
Marco made no secret of how he feels about his brother’s rise when he spoke to IOL before the series.
Marco Jansen, Proteas all-rounder
“I’m very, very proud of him and very happy for him.”
The Pink ODI at the Wanderers
The Pink ODI is the Wanderers’ annual breast cancer day.
Marco and Duan Jansen took the field in pink with their own names on their backs and walked off with a piece of South African cricket history.
The result means Wednesday’s third match in Potchefstroom is a dead rubber on paper. For the Jansen twins, back in the town where they went to school at Potchefstroom Gimnasium, it is anything but.
