New Zealand fast bowler Jacob Duffy took a magnificent 23 wickets in the recently concluded three-Test series against the West Indies and became the country’s highest-ever wicket-taker in a calendar year.
The 31-year-old bowler, who was named Player-of-the-Series, had only played in one Test match before the series against West Indies, but grabbed three sensational five-wicket hauls to end the year with 81 wickets across all formats.
He managed to break the previous record of 79 wickets, which was set by Richard Hadlee in 1985.
Duffy’s 23 wickets at an average of 15.43 also set a new New Zealand record for most wickets in a single home Test series, surpassing Trent Boult’s 20 wickets, which he took in 2013, also against the West Indies.
During the series, Duffy emerged as New Zealand’s pace spearhead; his impressive performance helped New Zealand secure the Test series 2-0, alongside their 3-1 victory in the T20I series and 3-0 win in the ODIs.
“I’m just enjoying my career, I don’t know. I don’t look at things too holistically, I guess,” Duffy said after the series win.
“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 [Tom Latham] keeps asking me to bowl the ball, I’d like to view that as a bit of a privilege. You just get to trust you to keep bowling and doing the good stuff, so that’s what I’m trying to do,” he added.
