For as long as they can remember, South African twins Duan and Marco Jansen have dreamt of playing alongside each other for the Proteas.
Now, with Duan’s call-up to the ODI squad for the series against Australia starting on Thursday, September 24, the brothers are one step closer to becoming the first twins to feature in the same SA starting XI.
Duan was drafted into the Proteas ODI squad to face Australia alongside his identical brother.
His inclusion comes after Ottniel Baartman was ruled out of the three-match ODI series later this month with a hamstring injury.
The Jansens are the first set of twins to play for SA, albeit at different times, similar to England’s Overtons, Chris and Jamie.
With both in the squad to face Australia, they will strive to become only the third set of twins after the Waughs (Steve and Mark, Australia) and Marshalls (Hamish and James, New Zealand) to play in the same international starting line-up.
It will be a special union of two journeys that moved at completely different speeds for the 6’8″ leftarm pacemen.
As 17-year-old net bowlers in Potchefstroom, where the two turned out for the North West Dragons, the Jansen duo stunned touring India legend Virat Kohli with their pace and bounce.
Marco’s career was fast-tracked when he made his Test debut against India in late 2021, while Duan was left to grind through domestic cricket.
For any athlete, watching a peer excel is tough; for a twin with the same physical blueprint, Jansen faced a psychological test.
As his twin became a household name and an IPL millionaire, Duan had to battle for game time while fielding constant media questions about his brother.
But rather than allowing Marco’s success to define him, Duan realised he had to forge his own path.
“When his career started, it was a bit difficult because obviously the media and people are around asking a lot of questions,” Duan said.
“But I think from four, five years ago, [and] two years into his Proteas journey, for me mentally, I knew I had to take my own route.”
That mental shift changed how he viewed Marco’s career.
Rather than seeing his twin’s rise as a shadow, Duan used it as a blueprint, asking questions about international cricket and learning from his experiences.
“Anyone else in that position, they’ll see that as a positive, because you can get a glimpse of how it’s running in front of your setup,” he said.
“Our relationship got better, stronger when it comes to cricket-related stuff.”
The turning point came during a difficult period, when injuries and a lack of playing time left him questioning whether his hard work was translating into progress.
“It didn’t feel like I was improving even though I was putting in the hard work, working five hours a day sometimes,” he said.
A move to the Titans helped spark what Duan described as a “180-degree turn” in a positive direction, while work on his mental health and spiritual focus helped him through the difficult period.
“For me personally, it means a bit more because the last two years, when I was with the Dragons and injuries, never playing, mentally I was in a different space,” he said about the call-up.
“And when I moved to the Titans, I just had a really 180 turn in a good way.”
“To be honest, I cried a bit,” Duan confessed, reflecting on the difficult road he had travelled to reach the Proteas.
Stepping onto the stage, Duan made an impact, emerging as a threat in the T20I tri-series before following it up with five wickets from his first two ODI appearances against Namibia.
His performances proved he belonged at this level on his own merit.
For Duan, the significance is personal. His ambition to share the Proteas dressing room with his twin is one step closer to reality.
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