Duffy cashes in on regular chances to deliver 'genuine, match-winning contributions'

Jacob Duffy's international career has been a stop-start one. Since making his T20I debut in December 2020, he has largely been on the bench, with Tim Southee ahead of him in the pecking order. Till 2023, he did not play more than four T20Is in a calendar year. But in 2024, he was given more chances, and that's helped him build his rhythm and finally deliver "genuine and match-winning contributions".

"I think it's just nice to be able to contribute towards the New Zealand team," he said after the third T20I against Sri Lanka. "I've sort of been around a while now, doing little bits here and there without probably really any genuine and match-winning contributions. To have that sort of impact on a game and a series is pretty special and hopefully more to come."

Duffy played seven T20Is in 2024, the last two of which were the two wins in the home series against Sri Lanka, which ended 2-1 in New Zealand's favour after Sri Lanka picked up a consolation win on Thursday. He picked up seven wickets in those two wins which earned him Player-of-the-Series award.

Duffy announced himself on the international stage with a four-for on debut, but since then he had only managed seven wickets in 13 T20Is before the start of this series.

In the first game in Mount Maunganui, when Sri Lanka were cruising in their chase of 173, Duffy shifted the momentum with a triple-wicket over which included removing Kusal Perera and Kamindu Mendis for ducks. It was a blow Sri Lanka couldn't recover from, triggering a slide as the visitors fell eight runs short.

In the second game, Duffy removed both of Sri Lanka's highest scorers - Perera and Pathum Nissanka - to help bowl them out for 141, sealing a 45-run win, while also registering career-best figures of 4 for 15.

Duffy will now want to take his momentum into the three-match ODI series against Sri Lanka, and with Southee having retired from international cricket, he hopes to cement his position in New Zealand's white-ball sides.

"I guess in my role, I guess sitting behind Tim [Southee] really for a long time, You might get a game here or two games here and you just don't quite get the comfortability at an international level but a momentum," Duffy said.

"So to get a whole series and go out and perform and start feeling a little bit more at home, that's got a huge sort of mental positive for me. So hopefully more of that come ODI series and just hungry for more international cricket."