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Duffy four-for leads New Zealand to 3-1 series win
” A beautiful summer’s day,” Jacob Duffy said as the tree tops and the cloud cover exchanged high-fives and the temperature just about strayed out of single digits. Dunedin was a picture postcard, provided you were a fast bowler.
The West Indies players in the dugout were all bundled up. Those that ventured into the middle were just bundled out. Duffy finished with 4 for 35, and in the process became the third-fastest New Zealand bowler to 50 T20I wickets and the primary force that led his team to a 3-1 series win.
West Indies were put in and bowled out for 140, having lost four wickets in 11 balls in the powerplay. A batting line-up that was focused on making the most of the field restrictions was undone on a pitch with live grass, so in addition to the overheads that almost ensured swing, there was pace and bounce.
Duffy harnessed all that help in the third over when he dismissed Shai Hope (top-edging a pull), Ackeem Auguste (bowled by the ball moving in late) and Sherfane Rutherford (caught behind trying to charge him).
The first of those wickets took Duffy’s T20I tally to 50. This was his 38th match. Only Trent Boult (36) and Lockie Ferguson (37) have got there quicker. One of the Southland’s own now sits among New Zealand’s elite.
His spell on Thursday also left Duffy with a strike rate of 13.8, the very best among the 20 Black Caps bowlers with at least 20 T20I wickets, and an average of 17.05, the second-best of that same group.
West Indies have a long and powerful batting line-up. Over the course of this series, they’ve added 277 runs at a strike rate of 176 after going six down. So emerging from the powerplay at 47 for 4 wasn’t exactly the end of the world.
But there was a tipping point when Rovman Powell, who threatened an incredible rearguard just last week by helping his side recover from 93 for 6 to get within touching distance of a 208-run target, fell in the seventh over.
Roston Chase and Jason Holder eventually conceded to discretion being the better part of valour, putting on a partnership of 42 in 34 balls. But both set batters fell within five balls of each other and Matthew Forde joined them soon enough, leaving the score 94 for 8 in the 14th over.
West Indies tried. They tried to plug the leak but all they did – on land reclaimed from a lake in old Pelichet Bay – was sink.
New Zealand had their own trials as the ball kept jagging around all day. But with the target as modest as the boundaries either side square of the wicket – 63m each – the jeopardy was reduced.
Tim Robinson came out and nailed his Brendon McCullum impression, right down to the cock of the wrist just as the bowler releases the ball and the addiction to hitting up in the air. He made 45 in 24 balls with five fours and three sixes, though the shot of the day belonged to Romario Shepherd, who first cleared long-on, then the stands, and almost what remains of the old Dunedin art gallery.
Devon Conway was content to go at a slower pace, bringing up 1000 T20I runs at home, and eventually sealing victory with eight wickets and 26 balls to spare.
Brief scores:
Prime Minister Dr. Harini Amarasuriya participated in a high-level dialogue titled “Tourism as Soft Power and Diplomatic Capital” held at the Euronews Hub, Piz Buin Davos, on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum on January 20.
The session explored how tourism functions as a strategic instrument of diplomacy by strengthening international trust, cultural exchange, and regional cooperation through mobility and people-to-people engagement. The Prime Minister shared the panel with Mr. Kuban Omiraliyev, Secretary General of the Organization of Turkic States and Mr. Meshari Alnahar – CEO Aseer Investment Company, Saudi Arabia.
Addressing global trends, the Prime Minister emphasized that Sri Lanka is an example of hope, recovery and resilience in a world of conflict demonstrating how tourism can play a critical role in a changing global environment particularly amid climate shocks, geopolitical instability, and uneven economic recovery. She noted that tourism is not only an economic sector but also a vital diplomatic bridge that supports livelihoods, builds relationships and connects people.
Drawing on Sri Lanka’s recent experience, she highlighted the country’s strong tourism recovery despite multiple crises, including the impact of Cyclone Ditwah. Transparent crisis management and strategic engagement with international partners helped sustain visitor confidence, resulting in record tourist arrivals even in challenging circumstances.
The Prime Minister also underscored the importance of green and climate friendly tourism infrastructure and underlined that Sri Lanka welcomes long term investment in tourism. She pointed out that tourism supports millions of jobs worldwide and that inclusive policies are essential to ensure fair opportunities, particularly for women and vulnerable communities.
[Prime Minister’s Media Division]
Harry Brook admits he was fortunate to keep his job as white-ball captain following a latte night alteraction with a nightclub bouncer in New Zealand, and says he is in the process of regaining the trust of his team.
Brook, now in Sri Lanka for England’s ODI series which gets underway on Thursday, was speaking for the first time since news broke that he had been disciplined for the incident in Wellington in October, for which he was fined £30,000 and put on a final warning for his off-field conduct.
“Obviously I made a terrible mistake,” Brook said. “Not only as a player, but as a captain. It’s very unprofessional and I should be leading from the front. “I’ve learnt from my mistakes, I’ve reflected a lot on what’s happened and I know it wasn’t the right thing to do. I want to say sorry to my team-mates, to all the fans that travel far and wide to watch, spend a lot of money on coming out to watch us play cricket and supporting us, and to the ECB for putting them in a tricky situation, and it’ll never happen again. I’m extremely sorry.”
Brook, along with a number of other England players, had been out drinking the night before the third ODI against New Zealand, with the match the final competitive fixture for England before the Ashes began three weeks later.
Brook, who says he then went on his own to a nightclub, says he was “clocked” by a bouncer when attempting to get in.
“We went out for a couple of drinks beforehand and then I took it upon myself to go out for a few more and I was on my own there,” Brook said. “I was trying to get into a club and the bouncer just clocked me, unfortunately. Like I said, I shouldn’t have been in that situation from the start. I wasn’t absolutely leathered, I’d had one too many drinks.”
Brook reported his actions to the management mid-game the next day, and came close to being sacked from his position as captain as a result.
“It was definitely going through my mind,” Brook said of the potential that he would lose his job, before adding that he had not at any stage considered resigning. “Never came into my mind. I left that decision to the hierarchy and, look, if they’d have sacked me from being captain, then I’d have been perfectly fine with it, as long as I was still playing cricket for England.
“Probably, yeah,” he added, when asked if he felt lucky to keep his job. “I think I’ve got a little bit of work to do to try and regain the trust of the players. I said sorry to them yesterday. I felt like I needed to say sorry for my actions. It’s not acceptable as a player, but as a captain it’s really not acceptable to do what I did in New Zealand. I’ll be the first person to say that. I hold my hands up.”
In the aftermath of the incident, which was kept private by England until after the Ashes had concluded, Brook sought help from Test captain Ben Stokes, who himself was involved in a high-profile nightclub fight in 2018.
“He obviously wasn’t best pleased at what I’d done,” Brook said. “But he tried to help me through it and he knows exactly what it feels like to be in this situation. We had a few conversations, but we quickly moved on.”
The news broke amid allegations of a drinking culture in English cricket, after players were regularly seen drinking alcohol during England’s tour of Australia.
“No, there’s no drinking culture at all,” Brook said. “Like I said, everybody has the ability to say no. If you want a drink, if you don’t want a drink, you’re allowed to make that decision yourself.
“It wasn’t just drinking [in Australia]. We weren’t just going out and getting leathered every day. We were having a few drinks here and there. We were playing plenty of golf, going to nice cafes, having coffees but we had a few drinks here and there. I don’t think that’s a bad thing. It’s just what human beings do.”
Despite this, England have introduced a curfew for their tour of Sri Lanka, with playing staff not allowed out past midnight.
“That’s been made as a group decision,” Brook said. “We think that it’s the best thing going forward, for the time being, to be able to put us in situations where we can win games of cricket and perform to the best of our ability.”
England play three ODIs against Sri Lanka, starting on Thursday in Colombo, before playing three T20Is ahead of next month’s World Cup. England have struggled of late in the 50-over format, losing 11 of their past 15 matches. That poor run of form will add extra pressure to the position of head coach Brendon McCullum, whom Brook threw his support behind, calling him “the best head coach I’ve had by a million miles”.
England have made a number of changes to their team since their last outing against New Zealand three months ago, with the return of Zak Crawley to the top of the order the most noticeable change. Crawley replaces Jamie Smith as opener, and will play his first List A game in over two years, having last played for England in December 2023. Elsewhere, Liam Dawson has been selected as the second spinner to accompany Adil Rashid in the middle-overs.
England : Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Joe Root, Jacob Bethell, Harry Brook (capt), Jos Buttler (wk), Will Jacks, Sam Curran, Jamie Overton, Liam Dawson, Adil Rashid
[Cricinfo]
During an operation conducted in the dark hours of 20 Jan 26, the Sri Lanka Navy seized two (02) Indian fishing boats and apprehended seven (07) Indian fishermen while they were poaching in Sri Lankan waters, off Kovilan, Jaffna.
The seized boats and Indian fishermen was to be handed over to the Fisheries Inspector of Myliddy, Jaffna for onward legal proceedings.
Sri Lanka is an example of hope, recovery and resilience in a world of conflict – PM
Brook needs to ‘regain trust of players’ after New Zealand nightclub incident
Navy seizes 02 Indian fishing boats poaching in northern waters
Prime Minister participates in high-level bilateral meetings at World Economic Forum
Dushmantha Chameera, Dhananjaya de Silva return for England ODIs
T20 World Cup crisis: PCB writes to ICC supporting Bangladesh’s stance
‘Dates have the highest sugar content to fight Coronavirus’
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