The star of the win was pacer Jacob Duffy, who scalped 4/35 in his 4 overs, to restrict Shai Hope’s West Indies side to just 140 in the first innings. Duffy rocked the Windies early, claiming 3 wickets in his 3rd over as the visitors skipped to 21 for 4.
The New Zealand won the ‘Player of the Match’ as well as the ‘Player of the Series’ awards for claiming 10 wickets at an economy-rate of 6.25. When Duffy dismissed Hope for 11, it was also his 50th T20I wicket in just 36 innings.
He equalled the record of Trent Boult – the joint fastest for the New Zealand team in this format. Boult was bought for Rs 12.25 crore by Nita Ambani’s Mumbai Indians in the IPL 2025 mega auction last year and was their leading wicket-taker with 22 wickets.
WATCH Jacob Duffy equal Trent Boult’s massive record HERE…
Duffy’s early wickets meant that Windies all-rounder Romario Shepherd’s 36 off 22 balls couldn’t do much to revive the visitors. “We just wanted to be clinical. Last time out in NZ before we head out as a T20I squad. We are here to do a job, want to win games for our country and that is what we focus on,” Duffy said after the match.
“That (West Indies) is a scary line-up, they go all the way. Some awesome games of cricket (this series), tight games, hopefully the crowds enjoyed that,” he added.
New Zealand overhauled the small target with ease, chasing down the total inside 16 overs with the loss of just 2 wickets. Opener Tim Robinson set up the chase with a brilliant 45 off 24 balls while Devon Conway remained unbeaten on 47 off 42 balls with 4 fours and a six. Robinson, on the other hand, hammered three sixes and five fours in his knock.
The West Indies had won the first match by seven runs, New Zealand won the second by three runs and the third on Sunday by nine runs. All three matches were decided in the final over. The fourth match on Monday was abandoned due to rain.
“I guess in Twenty20 a huge asset of mine is that swing up top and taking wickets in the power play is always pretty important. Maybe less so against the West Indies, such is the length of their batting lineup,” Duffy said.