Once every 120 years

Marco Jansen's history-making spell

Hugh Trumble could play. But, don't take my word for it. In 1899, WG Grace called him "the best bowler Australia has sent us" after the Australian scored 1,183 runs and took 142 wickets during Australia's tour of England. He is the type of player Grace would have kidnapped. The Englishman famously kidnapped Billy Midwinter to have the Australian play for Gloucestershire, Grace's team, after a clash in fixtures.

It wasn't just Grace who held the bowler in his esteem. A. G Moyes, one of Australia’s greatest cricket voices between 1950 and '63, wrote “Where most bowlers attacked weakness, Trumble fed the opposition’s strength, challenging the batsman’s ambition.”

The tall and lanky all-rounder made the most of his height (6 ft 4 in), bowled an impeccable length, turned the ball sharply on helpful pitches, and varied pace admirably.

Trumble retired from international cricket in 1902. However, a year later, Australia sent emissaries to persuade him to come back from retirement after they lost the first match of a five-match series against England. Trumble made a triumphant return. He bagged 24 wickets in four Tests to finish as Australia's most successful bowler in the series.

He was unplayable in the final match, bagging seven wickets for 28 runs in 6.5 overs.

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120 years after Trumble’s feat, Marco Jansen stood at the top of his mark ready to bowl his first delivery. He was taking the new ball with Kagiso Rabada. Jansen’s first delivery was full and outside the line of the off-stump. Pathum Nissanka watched it fly past him to the keeper. The rest of the over felt like an exploration mission. Jansen tried different lines and lengths, got some movement in the air, extracted extra bounce and threw in a wide one for good measure. His speed was in the late 130s.

Jansen zoned in on a full length with the first four deliveries of his second over. The first one was a dot, the second a no-ball and the third a wicket-taking delivery. Jansen pitched it in line with the off-stump. Feeling he had to play it, Pathum Nissanka chose the forward defence shot, only managing to edge it to Tristan Stubbs at third slip.

Jansen’s wicket came two balls after Rabada had taken the Proteas’ first scalp. The South African spearhead had worked Dimuth Karunaratne over in the over, before sending him on his way with a wobble ball delivery. Rabada was relentless and did not ease on the pressure in his second over.

"We assessed that the fuller ball or the ball that hits the stumps three-quarters of the way up, was easier to play even though the ball was nipping," Jansen said in the post-match press conference.

South Africa’s new-ball pair decided to aim for a good length. On that length, the ball moved in the air for longer.

When Jansen returned from the T20 World Cup, Cricket South Africa gave him a break. They call them condition blocks. Periods where players are supposed to be away from competitive cricket as they recover from the demands of their taxing schedules. During his break, Jansen worked on his craft. He returned sharper and clear-headed.

The left-armer aimed at the good length in his third over and his third delivery yielded results. It was also in line with the middle stump, but Jansen got it to nip back slightly, just enough to beat the bat and graze Chandimal's back thigh pad on its way to castling the off stump.

Sri Lanka needed all the help they could get with the runs. They were on 15/3 after seven overs. Kagiso Rabada was going at an economy of two runs an over. Jansen, on the other hand, was being unplayable. He had conceded four runs in three overs.

Jansen added to Sri Lanka's cause by sprinkling a few no-balls in his overs to help the visitors keep the scoreboard ticking over. He bowled three no-balls in three overs, two of them off the first ball of the over. Jansen followed his third no-ball with his third wicket of the innings. The delivery was on a length, angling away from Angelo Mathews. Mathews got an inside edge that flew to David Bedingham at first slip.

Jansen delivered four overs before he conceded a boundary. He opened his fifth over with an overpitched delivery, that Dhananjaya leaned into and creamed through the off-side. Those were the only runs he conceded in the over. It was also the first over, since his opening over, that he finished wicketless. He made up for that deficit by striking twice in his sixth over. Dismissed Dhananjaya de Silva and Prabath Jayasuriya in four deliveries.

Jansen has had to wait for two years, bowl in 10 Test innings, to get his second five-wicket haul. He bagged his maiden fiver at the Oval, against England. He finished with five wickets for 35 runs in 12.2 overs. The wickets of Dhananjaya de Silva and Jayasuriya ended the wait.

However, Jansen was not done yet. The 24-year-old made it four wickets in two overs when he bagged another brace to make it seven wickets in 6.5 overs. His last two victims were Vishwa Fernando, whom he clean-bowled, and Asitha Fernando, who had to depart caught and bowled by Jansen. The two Fernandos fell in three deliveries of each other.

On 28 November 2024, Marco Jansen, who is as tall and lanky as Trumble was, bagged seven wickets in 6.5 overs. It took 120 years for someone else to match that feat.