Facts support Jansen's omission

Marco Jansen's omission for two Tests in West Indies next month and two more at home against Bangladesh in October to give him the chance to undergo "rehab and conditioning" has raised the usual alarms.

You've heard before about the strain T20 franchise leagues are putting on the international game's player resources. It's not difficult to poke the bears in this enclosure - people who think T20 is ruining cricket. They tend to lead with opinion, not fact. And the most salient fact in this debate is that boards of CSA's middling to minor stature cannot match the money players earn flitting from one T20 league to another.

Of course, other facts are available. For instance, of all the 2,170 deliveries Jansen has bowled since March 2023, as many as 1,179 have been in the service of South Africa. That's 54.33% of his bowling workload. T20 leagues have accounted for only 16.04% of the balls he has bowled, and the IPL - invariably the chief villain of the piece - for just 10.23%.

Something similar is true for most of the other fast bowlers who have played for South Africa since March 2023. Kagiso Rabada has sent down 62.44% of all his deliveries in the national cause. The IPL? Just 20.87%. None of Lungi Ngidi's 1,026 balls were bowled in the IPL, compared to his 710 for South Africa. That's 69.20%.

Anrich Nortje's international quota has been 36.65% of his total workload, and Nandre Burger's 19.57%. But Nortje has restricted himself to T20 cricket for the time being and Burger has played just six games for South Africa from his debuts across the formats in December 2023.

It simply isn't true that the country's best fast bowlers spend most of their time as mercenaries flying the flag of some or other far-flung franchise. Mostly they play for South Africa, who are scheduled to contest 24 matches - eight in each format - in just more than six months. Potentially, that adds up 46 days of cricket spread across 190 days. Consequently, player management will be key. Fast bowlers - who have sent down 69.57% of all South Africa's deliveries since March 2023 - are at the top of that list.

"It's been a conversation that Rob [Walter], myself and the medical team have had for the longest time now," Shukri Conrad told a press conference on Monday. "But given the hectic schedules - not necessarily for South Africa - someone like Plank [Jansen] would have had two months at an IPL straight to a World Cup, straight into a MLC.

"The plan was always that different guys will get breaks at different times. So this is Marco's time where we felt we can do some really good work with him from a rehab and conditioning point of view, and if there's some technical work that needs to happen. He'll have the West Indies and Bangladesh series off and be ready for Sri Lanka and Pakistan. Another quick will have the Bangladesh series off and be ready for Sri Lanka and Pakistan.

"We want to make sure that we manage these players properly. They never get time to do work on their bodies and on technical stuff. It's not a holiday. It's about keeping the pool of fast bowlers we have at our disposal fresh."

It's also about balancing what could be seen as competing interests, a challenge when several of the same players are involved in more than one format. For instance, half of South Africa's squad of 16 who will be in the Caribbean for the Tests were at the T20 World Cup.

"It was never about benefitting the white-ball sides and them having the luxury of playing all their leagues, and then they come back tired," Conrad said. "The Test squad takes priority now, but we also know that in February there's a Champions Trophy - and that we need to have everybody fit and firing.

"So it is not white-ball versus red-ball. It's a collaboration to make sure that at every turn we give South Africa the best chance of performing well with their best players; not only getting into finals but winning them, and also playing to claim the honours in the World Test Championship."

That Jansen is due time off is difficult to counter. Apart from whatever physical and mechanical work he might need to do, he hasn't been the same bowler since he bled 17 runs in the second over of the World Cup match against India at Eden Gardens in November. The over included four balls that sailed for wides, and Jansen's economy rate for the match, 9.72, was the most expensive in both attacks. In the semifinal against Australia at the same ground, he went wicketless at 8.07 - again the highest economy rate in the match - in 4.2 overs.

Jansen showed improvement at the T20 World Cup, where he took seven wickets at an economy rate of 6.83. But he is a far cry from the force he was in his first 10 Tests, when he claimed 41 wickets at an average of 21.66.

That Jansen is a fine player is indisputable. It is just as unarguable that he needs to rediscover what made him so good. Some "rehab and conditioning" is indeed in order.