In a summer where New Zealand’s fast-bowling stocks seemed forever on the physio’s table, Jacob Duffy quietly moved from stop-gap option to pace spearhead – and, almost by accident, took down one of Sir Richard Hadlee’s records.
Called “the leader of the attack” by limited-overs captain Mitchell Santner during the recent T20Is, Duffy then shouldered the red-ball workload in Mount Maunganui, guiding the Black Caps to a 2-0 win over West Indies. His 23 wickets in the three-Test series came at 15.43, eclipsing Trent Boult’s mark for most wickets in a home series and pushing his 2025 tally to 81 – one clear of Hadlee’s old calendar-year record.
“I’m just enjoying my career, I don’t know. I don’t look at things too holistically I guess,” Duffy said after closing out the Bay Oval Test. “It has been an awesome ride; it’s been testing with all the bowlers going down and obviously the workload is pretty high. But I guess the fact that Tommy keeps asking me to bowl the ball, I’d like to view that as a bit of a privilege.”
On a worn day-five surface, Duffy put aside his usual new-ball swing and instead banged the ball in, Wagner-style, extracting chest-high lift that hurried the visitors. The West Indies line-up, so obdurate in Christchurch a fortnight earlier, never looked settled.
Tom Latham, standing in for Tim Southee as captain, later admitted he had simply backed instinct. “Had a gut feel that Ajaz was our man at one end and Duff could do the rest,” he told host broadcaster Sky NZ. Latham also praised the 31-year-old’s growth: “You can see he’s learnt to control spells, choose when to attack and when to defend. That’s gold for us moving forward.”
Duffy’s route to this point was anything but straight. Raised in Southland, a province better known for sheep farming than Test caps, he debuted for Otago at 17 but waited nine more seasons for an international call-up. Four for 33 against Pakistan on T20I debut hinted at bigger things, yet his Test bow only arrived this year.
“I guess that’s probably the Southland kid in me,” Duffy reflected. “I think you grow up down there and even playing for Otago seems ridiculous when you’re growing up. To come on to the international stage and I guess start to feel like you belong, that’s really cool.
“I guess it was probably out here last year, this time of year against Sri Lanka, I guess I started putting in some match-winning, match-changing spells and stuff in 2020 and you start to feel like you belong internationally. It’s a really cool feeling, it gives you that trust and belief in yourself and you know you’re worth it.”
Numbers back up the sentiment. In only four Tests he has 37 wickets at 16.2. With Southee 37 and Boult increasingly white-ball focused, selectors have made little secret of seeing Duffy as a pillar of the next cycle.
An IPL cheque has followed the wickets. Royal Challengers Bengaluru secured him for INR 2 crore at last week’s mini-auction, viewing the right-armer as cover for the injured Josh Hazlewood. “I think it’s always going to be a s,” Duffy began before laughing and admitting he hadn’t yet wrapped his head around the figure. Fair enough – in New Zealand domestic cricket, that sum is roughly a decade’s salary.
Beyond the numbers, coaches point to subtle gains: an extra yard of pace logged by GPS trackers, a slightly fuller stock length, a more repeatable follow-through. Bowling coach Shane Jurgensen describes Duffy as “still rough around the edges, which is good – he’s hungry”. The player himself speaks more about rhythm than mechanics: “When the captain keeps throwing you the ball, you forget all the science stuff and just compete.”
Kane Williamson, rested for the West Indies series, sent a simple message to the dressing-room group chat: “Proud of you lads, especially Duff.” It is understated praise, yet it captures where New Zealand cricket sits – no fireworks, plenty of graft, records occasionally sliding almost unnoticed.
Whether Duffy sustains this burst is the next question. The Black Caps tour India in February, a very different proposition for a seamer built on bounce and movement. For now, he’ll take a short break in Invercargill before joining Otago’s Super Smash campaign, then pack for Bengaluru and the whirlwind of the IPL.
He grins at the prospect but keeps it low-key. “I’ll still be the same bloke,” he insists. “Maybe just buying coffee a bit more often for the lads.”
