Cricket: Wandering Fingertip Denies Black Cap Jacob Duffy Catch of Summer

Jacob Duffy took four wickets on a game debut man for New Zealand, but it was a sack that didn’t count in the Kiwis’ five wickets victory that left fans in disbelief.

After being presented with his black cap and told by bowling coach Shane Jurgensen to “keep calm and play wild,” the 26-year-old speedy got off to a sensational start, ruling out starter Abdullah Shafique for a duck on his first over.

He then claimed the scalp of Mohammad Rizwan and Mohammad Hafeez in his second as Pakistan lost three wickets on three balls to fall to 4/20.

The visitors were 5/44 in the 10th when Shadab Khan sent an uppercut sailing into third deep man. The shot looked like a six for all the money, but Duffy tracked it to the rope and reached to pluck it out of the sky.

He only had about a meter of room to stop his momentum and acrobatically contorted his body in a valiant attempt to avoid touching the limit rope.

But replays showed that the fingertips of his left hand had just brushed against the triangular advertising wedge, meaning it was a four for Khan.

“It was one of those where you raise your hand and it kind of hits,” Duffy said in a post-game interview.

“I felt something, something there and you can’t be that guy who goes and celebrates a no-catch and withdraws on TV.”

Khan tried to salvage his team’s innings, breaking 42 of 32 balls before Duffy finally won his rematch, persuading Sodhi, and New Zealand clinched a victory in the first T20 international match at Auckland’s Eden Park on Friday.

The Black Caps finished 5/156 with seven balls to spare after losing the draw and setting a goal of 154.

Tim Seifert was the leading scorer for the hosts with 57, while Duffy finished with 4/33.