Jansen banks on variation, improvisation

The ability to generate pace and bounce is Marco Jansen’s natural gift, but the 6.8-feet-tall pacer’s subtler variations are a result of improvisation and relentless training.

Jansen dug deep into his bag of tricks and pulled out a delivery that he developed on his own to take the sting out of New Zealand’s innings in their T20 World Cup contest on Saturday (February 14, 2026). On the face of it, it was a slower delivery that induced Mark Chapman’s leading edge to the backward point fielder.

“It is not a knuckleball, but it is not a back-of-the-hand palm ball either. It is a mixture of the two. If I bowl the knuckleball, you can see my knuckles. So, I specialised my own version,” Jansen said.

“For me, it was about getting another ball in my arsenal, so I would not get hit for a six.”

Necessity is indeed the mother of invention.