Southland seamer Jacob Duffy had a debut to remember as the Black Caps beat Pakistan in their Twenty20 series opener on Friday night, taking 4-33 to help set up a five-wicket win.
Tim Seifert (57 off 43) and Mark Chapman (34 off 20) were then the key men with the bat as the hosts chased down 154 at Eden Park in Auckland to take a 1-0 lead in the three-match series.
Pakistan were immediately on the back foot after winning the toss and choosing to bat, with Duffy removing Abdullah Shafique for a second-ball duck when he chipped a catch to Chapman at mid-on.
Two more wickets followed in his second over – Mohammad Rizwan, caught at cover for 17 off 17, and Mohammad Hafeez, who skied a catch to Chapman and departed for a golden duck.
While Duffy waited for his hat-trick ball, Scott Kuggeleijn had Haider Ali caught and bowled for three off five, and while the hat-trick wasn’t to be, Pakistan were a meagre 29-4 at the end of the six-over power play.
The debutant had been acrobatic at the bowling crease, twice trying to take sharp caught-and-bowled chances, and he nearly took a one-handed screamer at third man off Blair Tickner, only for replays to show he had touched the boundary rope as he completed the catch.
Pakistan captain Shadab Khan remained the danger man and clubbed a pair of sixes off Ish Sodhi in the 15th over to move his side to 99-6, but he was then brilliantly caught by the diving leg-spinner to become Duffy’s fourth victim, departing for a 32-ball 42.
Wahab Riaz and Faheem Ashraf hit Duffy for three sixes off the final five balls he bowled, with Ashraf going on to make a useful 31 off 18 before he was caught by Martin Guptill – who juggled it – off the bowling of Tickner.
Kuggeleijn finished with 3-27 from his four overs, claiming Imad Wasim for 19 off 14 and Wahab for nine off five, but Pakistan would have been satisfied to make 153-9 from their 20 overs after their horror start, with Shaheen Shah Afridi not out on 10 off five.
