Marco Jansen To Miss America’s Major League Cricket Season Due To Test Duties

Star quick Marco Jansen will not be part of the upcoming Major League Cricket season in the U.S. due to Test commitments that start with South Africa’s clash against Australia in next month’s World Test Championship final in London.

It was initially expected that the 25-year-old Jansen would only be unavailable at the beginning of an expanded 34-game MLC third edition, which runs from June 12-July 13.

But he will miss the entire season after South Africa’s two-Test series in Zimbabwe was pushed forward, with the series now starting on June 28 and scheduled to finish on July 10.

The WTC final, with South Africa qualifying for the decider for the first time, starts on June 11 at Lord’s.

Jansen, the towering left-arm paceman and hard-hitting batter, was part of Washington Freedom’s squad in the MLC’s first two seasons and played a key role in their triumph last year.

An announcement on his replacement is expected by the Freedom in the coming days. South Africa top-order batter Ryan Rickelton, who plays for Seattle Orcas, is also set to miss the entire MLC season.

“Marco has been a huge part of the Washington Freedom setup in our first two seasons. He was fantastic last year helping us win the final,” Freedom general manager Michael Klinger told me.

“His presence with the new ball and in the field, and his power hitting with the bat when required, went a long way to helping us win last season.”

As reported by ESPNcricinfo, eight South Africa players, including Jansen and Rickelton, who has been in strong form for Mumbai Indians, will miss the Indian Premier League playoffs in order to prepare for the WTC final with a warm-up game scheduled against Zimbabwe from June 3 at Arundel.

There had been high-level negotiations between Cricket South Africa and IPL officials over the early release of those players.

The money-spinning IPL, cricket’s richest and most influential league, will resume on May 17 after a weeklong suspension in the wake of India-Pakistan cross-border tensions.

The Freedom open the MLC season against San Francisco Unicorns at the Oakland Coliseum on June 12 in a rematch of last year’s final.

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The iconic Coliseum, the former home of the NFL’s Raiders and MLB’s Athletics, will host nine matches from June 12-18 before the 34-game tournament shifts to Dallas and Broward County in Florida.