Jansen's not-quite knuckle ball lights up South Africa's pace-off masterclass

Pace may be pace but South Africa included six seamers in their 2026 T20 World Cup squad for more than that and they showed it against New Zealand in Ahmedabad.

Their skill, whether at speed or while actively trying to work without it, was on display in their third successive match at this venue, which speaks not only to the familiarity they have developed with this stadium, where they will also play two Super Eight games (provided they qualify) and which will likely host the final, but to their own progress.

South Africa limited New Zealand to the lowest first-innings total at this venue in the tournament so far - 175 for 7 - and pulled off a pre-death-overs strangle that killed their momentum. New Zealand were 138 for 4 with a ball to go in the 14th over, Daryl Mitchell and Mark Chapman's fifth-wicket stand was worth 74 off 44 balls, and a total of 200 was in their sights. In the next 17 balls, South Africa took three wickets and gave away just seven runs and, in effect, won the game there.

Cricket is, of course, more complicated than that and a nod must be given to the three wickets South Africa took in the powerplay, which set them up for success. That period started with what you may consider a more traditional mode of attack for South Africa: Marco Jansen used the short ball and found extra bounce to nick Tim Seifert off and found some movement as Rachin Ravindra was squared up and caught at short third.

The field placement was smart, and something South Africa have used consistently at this tournament, often on both sides of the wicket to give their bowlers as many options of getting wickets as possible.

Those may be the obvious ways that South African seamers get wickets but in this tournament, they have also added something different. Pre-match, captain Aiden Markram spoke about the importance of changes in pace, especially at this venue, and across the tournament as a whole.

"As a batter, facing them [changes in pace] can be quite challenging, especially if it's quite deceiving," Markram said. "You kind of work out if it's off-pace through cutters and not really trying to grip the ball on the surface or if you're trying to get the batter through deception, and then it's about the bowler committing to one of the two of them."

Jansen showed both of them against New Zealand. He had the offcutter, which was relatively easy to identify by looking at his fingers and he had the (sort-of) knuckle ball, which was far more difficult to spot and is his own innovation. He explained it in his post-match press conference as "not a knuckle, but it's also not a palm. It's like out the back of the hand or deep in the hand. It's a mixture of the two. If I go knuckle ball, you can see my knuckles above the ball and it's easier to pick. So it's basically my own version."

Both variations got him wickets, which helped South Africa break New Zealand open. Finn Allen was done in by the former, which he tried to hit over the infield but could only get as far as mid-off. In his next over, Chapman was foxed by the not-quite knuckle ball, as he went through his stroke before the delivery had reached him and popped a leading edge to Ryan Rickelton at backward point.

Rickelton acknowledged the success of the plan when he tapped his finger to his head knowingly but Markram revealed it was more of an in-the-moment decision than a long-thought-out strategy.

"It's not like a set plan. It very much depends on the approach of the batters as well. If a guy's ready to tee off and trying to take you down, you need to play with his swing a bit, and that's through change of pace," he said. "There'll be phases in the game where it can be tricky with our fast bowlers, because when there is anything (pace or bounce) there, if anyone can find something, it's them.

"So it's a fine balance to try and manage, but I think the secret tonight was there was a lot of conviction beyond what they did, and what they were feeling, and that gut feel, and we went with that."

The theory behind change-ups is solid, especially in a game where predictability is the least desirable quality and the best executor of the slower ball in the South African set-up is Lungi Ngidi. He is second on the tournament's wicket-taker's list, with eight in three games, and has also been South Africa's most economical seamer.

He only picked up one wicket on Saturday, when Mitchell tried to clear long-on off a full delivery, but it was an important one. Ngidi removed a set batter and set New Zealand back on their aim to get "as close to 200 as possible," as Mitchell put it.

Not only has Ngidi been able to exploit conditions perfectly but he is brimming with self-belief and his team-mates can see it. "His training has been spot on," Jansen said. "Not that he hasn't been training well in the previous years, but right now you can see there's sort of that match intensity or that real, deep focus when he trains.

"And he executes very well in training as well. That gives him the confidence to go out in the game and actually go and execute and just focus on what he wants to do."

After their double-Super-Over nailbiter against Afghanistan, South Africa were relieved to get a win that was "slightly easier to deal with, mentally," as Markram put it, a win that put them on the brink of the Super Eights. They will officially qualify for that round if Afghanistan beat UAE in Delhi on Monday or if they beat UAE at the same venue two days later, which means they are leaving their adopted home comforts in Ahmedabad, for now.

With pace-off also a factor in USA's win over Netherlands on Friday, can South Africa expect more of the same in a new venue? "It's a smaller ground and the ball flies a lot further," Jansen said. "From a bowling point of view, it's always going to be tricky playing at Delhi, having played there a couple of times now. I think the wicket is going to be good.

"It's going to be sort of a low, skiddy bounce there and I don't think we're going to change too much. We might just play around with field placements and get those angles exactly right. Especially in Delhi, if your angles are in the wrong spot, the ball can fly everywhere."

South Africa's final group match will take place against UAE on Wednesday.