Marco Jansen climbs ICC rankings after stellar England tour

Despite a superlative start to the series, the Proteas came undone in the second and third Tests, with batting woes leading to a 2-1 series loss. However, one of the positives of the tour was Jansen, who averaged 13.11 with the ball - thanks to his maiden fiver at The Oval - and 27.33 with the bat.

The Proteas' batting performance was so underwhelming that Jansen actually averaged higher than openers Dean Elgar and Sarel Erwee, as well as top order batters Keegan Petersen and Aiden Markram in the series.

The 2.06m gentle giant made his Test debut just nine months ago at the age of 21. Since, Jansen has shown he's more than comfortable in international cricket, scooping 37 Test scalps at 18.59 and adding value with the bat (averaging 22.22) as well.

Jansen's recent heroics saw him climb no less than eight places (to 26th) in the Test Bowling Rankings and six places (12th) in the Test All-Rounder Rankings.

Captain Dean Elgar sang his praises following the series loss, adding that he's benefiting from having little emotional baggage.

"He is a massive talent, also young and inexperienced, but I think he has a different mentality to the way he approaches the game, which is nice to have around," Elgar told reporters on Monday.

"Seeing the way he plays, he has got bites of the cherry since he is an all-rounder. So if the one discipline lets him down, he can sort it out with the other one.

"But I do think he approaches the game with a positive mindset and he doesn't have any baggage or cobwebs in his closet. He is pretty raw and never really failed yet at a young age, so he can play with that open and positive mindset."

The Proteas next red ball outing is Down Under, where they play Australia in a three-Test tour starting 17 December.