Jacob Duffy

When Jacob Duffy played his first T20I for New Zealand in December 2020, he became the first Southlander to make his debut for the national side since Jeff Wilson in 1993. He had all the ingredients that a fast bowler would want. He was tall. He had the ability to swing the ball both ways but it took a while for him to harness all those natural attributes.

When Duffy burst onto the Under-19 scene in New Zealand, his action seemingly collapsed in the delivery stride but as he moved up the ranks, he remedied that. Duffy attributed his first international call up in late 2020 to those technical tweaks, which included the straightening of his followthrough.

Since picking up a four-for, and the Player-of-the-Match award, on debut against Pakistan though, Duffy made only sporadic appearances for New Zealand over the next three years before earning his first New Zealand central contract in 2024.

He remained a dominant force in domestic cricket, especially the four-day Plunket Shield. When he took a match haul of nine wickets against Northern Districts in Dunedin in 2023, he became Otago's leading wicket-taker across formats, toppling a record which Stephen Boock held for almost three decades.