Jacob Duffy: From a town of 530 people to the top of T20I bowling rankings and now an IPL contract | Cricket News

Duffy’s name did not set the auction table on fire. He was sold for his entry price. RCB might sense a bargain, because he is arguably the most consistent T20 bowler in the last two years, once even climbing to the top of the chart. He is chiselled in Josh Hazlewood mould. He doesn’t bowl with explosive pace, but possesses a staggering control of lines. He is brisk, blessed with dexterity in length, has adequate though no cryptic variations, has a heavy ball and can swing the ball both ways in favourable conditions. The T20I numbers are terrific; 53 wickets in 38 games, striking every 14th ball and leaking only 7.34.

The 31-year-old, self-admittedly, is a limited bowler. But from childhood, he has a gift of conquering limitations. Half the year, his town was under the snow. There was not a formal cricket academy But his father and elder brothers would roll out a pitch in the backyard. “It didn’t matter whether it snowed or rained. We would always play,” he once told Stuff.co.nz.

“I remember Dad rolled a pitch into the backyard – an actual pitch with clay and everything. Me, older brother Ryan and Matt would kick around on that,” he detailed. It was the usual boys’ stuff. “We would be in teams and you would be New Zealand and come out as Nathan Astle and Stephen Fleming. So I reflect on that and it’ i pretty surreal to now be part of the group.’’

He is so much rooted to the town that he has not formally shifted to a bigger city. “Honestly, I can’t see myself living anywhere else as well. I hate Christchurch, and I don’t like big cities like Wellington and Auckland, and Napier and Tauranga are too far away, so why would I? “I love the South too much.”

But when he was in mid-teens, he shifted to Invercargill for schooling. It’s where he started playing structured cricket. He made constant progress, but the small-town mentality haunted him. “You just get that feeling in Invercargill and Southland that you assume everyone else is better than you. At the New Zealand U19s [tournament] you are playing against Auckland, Wellington, and Canterbury and the assumption was that I’d be doing well to compete with those guys. But I made that New Zealand [U19] team and was sort of leading the change in that group as well. It was the first time I thought, ‘I’m okay’.”

But blessed as New Zealand were in the pace department in the last decade, he had to wait till 2020 for his international break, a T20 game against Pakistan in Auckland. He grabbed four wickets and won the man of the match award. He became a T20 regular, and gradually broke into the longer versions, finally winning a Test cap in August this year. And now, he has fetched an IPL contract, and could arguably be the most famous among the 530 residents of Lumsden.