‘Doesn’t quite seem right’: Duffy stunned by top cricket honour
Saturday, 11 April 2026
Southland Black Cap Jacob Duffy admits it still feels “surreal” seeing his name alongside some of New Zealand cricket’s greats.
The Lumsden-born pace bowler said he was shocked to be named the Sir Richard Hadlee Medal winner at the recent New Zealand Cricket Awards — an honour given to the country’s top cricketer across the season.
“It feels pretty surreal to be honest. I genuinely never thought I would be in contention to win something like that,” Duffy said.
“All I’ve ever wanted to do is play all three formats for New Zealand and make some winning contributions along the way and I guess in the last 12 months it’s the first time I’ve been able to do that, which I am super grateful for.”
The medal, first awarded in 2011, places Duffy alongside names such as Kane Williamson, Ross Taylor and Brendon McCullum — something he said was hard to get his head around.
“I’m honoured. These lists of [our top] names keep popping up for various things, records, awards and it doesn’t quite seem right to see my name amongst them,” he said.
“A lot of the dudes on them I grew up watching and idolising. It’s crazy seeing yourself in the same conversation as them.”
Duffy broke Hadlee’s record for most wickets in a calendar season with 81, took three consecutive five wicket bags in the clashes against the West Indies and earned several man of the match awards across the three formats.
He was also named Black Caps Test Player of the Year and awarded the Windsor Cup for men’s first class bowling.
Duffy’s recognition follows a standout year across all three formats, but he said the past few months had also been challenging.
“India is a tough place to bowl in white ball cricket, especially as a seamer,” he said.
“The T20 World Cup was an epic experience and for us to make such a deep run and for myself to play in a World Cup final in a place like India is something I will never forget.”
The 30-year-old has since carried that form into the IPL, where he made an immediate impact for Royal Challengers Bangalore, taking 3-22 on debut, picking up the wickets of Australian Travis Head and Indian duo Abishek Sharma and Nitish Kumar Reddy and earning player of the match honours.
“Since I’ve got here to RCB you can tell how big a deal the IPL is here. It’s pretty cool,” he said.
“The experiences you get training daily against world class guys like Virat Kohli and Phil Salt is awesome and I am going to have Josh Hazelwood here too.
“It’s going to be such a cool couple of months trying to hopefully grow my game.”
He took as further two wickets in his second game for Bangalore on April 6.
Southland Cricket Association general manager Sam Downing said it’s great seeing Duffy excel.
“Southland Cricket is extremely proud of Jacob and everything he has achieved. Coming from a small region like Southland, it’s a great reminder to our young players that with hard work, anything is possible.
“There’s no doubt this achievement will continue to inspire our junior cricketers to dream big and follow in his footsteps.”