Proteas have a player who can ’stay in the fight’ in Marco Jansen

Johannesburg - The importance of ‘throwing the first punch,’ and then ‘staying in the fight,’ are two of the Proteas’ favourite analogies.

‘Throwing the first punch,’ as the phrase implies, is to make a strong play early in a series or match, and then having done that, don’t back down, even when the opponents return blows, ‘stay in the fight’.

From the perspective of a series, South Africa have battled with throwing that first punch. Against India, they were chasing the first Test from lunch on the first day.

Against New Zealand, the inability to land any blows in the first Test last week, saw them floored in record time.

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In the second Test they’ve made a much better fist of things. They landed the first punch after winning the toss and choosing to bat and when New Zealand hit back on the second morning, they stayed in the fight, thanks to Marco Jansen.

Jansen looks more like a basketball player than a boxer, but he seems to thrive in a fight. He went head to head with Jasprit Bumrah at the Wanderers last month quite literally, so to show that much vaunted Indian team that neither he nor his teammates were willing to give ground.

A similar attitude emerged on Saturday. New Zealand had thrown their big punch in the first session and South Africa had one of those batting collapses which have become the norm in the last few years yesterday’s saw five wickets lost for the addition of 45 runs.

Following a brief rain break Jansen found himself at the crease alongside Keshav Maharaj, with South Africa close to throwing away the advantage the top order had created on the first day.

Jansen didn’t flinch. Those all-rounder tendencies that were hinted