Birthday special: Lockie Ferguson – A superstar pace bowler in making
A spectacularly talented fast bowler with pace and bounce as the biggest weapon in his armoury, New Zealand’s Lockie Ferguson has risen the ranks and turned himself into a valuable asset for his team. With an ability to clock consistently at 150 kmph, the right-arm pacer also exploits his height to a good advantage and can rattle any batting line-up on his day.
Ferguson burst onto the scene at the first-class cricket in 2012-13 and instantly hogged the limelight with the way he generated pace. He scalped 21 wickets in the 2014-15 season and followed that by a 31-wicket season in 2015-16, knocking down the doors to gain a spot in the List-A team.
By December 2016, Ferguson earned his maiden call-up for the New Zealand ODI team, as he replaced an injured Adam Milne in the series against Australia. He debuted in the shortest version of the game next month against Bangladesh but had to wait for his first Test cap until December 2019, when he played for the team in the whites for the first time against Australia at Perth. Much to his disappointment, Ferguson failed to participate in the game after the first day owing to a calf strain and has not played a Test ever since.
Apart from international cricket, Ferguson has also been a feature at the Indian Premier League, where he was first bought by the now-defunct Rising Pune Supergiant in 2017. He later moved to Kolkata Knight Riders in 2019 and has continued with the team for all the following seasons. In his 14-match IPL career, the pacer has scalped 11 wickets at an average and strike rate of 38.55 and 27.18 respectively.
Ferguson was kept out of the mix in the 2020 edition when Pat Cummins was preferred by the Kolkata team. However, once he was included, Ferguson impressed with some furious and match-winning spells, claiming 6 wickets in the five games he played.
At the international level, his best came during the ODI World Cup of 2019, when he ended up as the second-leading wicket-taker with 21 wickets at a staggering average and economy rate of 19.47 and 4.88 respectively.
Ferguson, who turns 30 today, has represented New Zealand in a solitary Test, 37 ODIs and 13 T20Is thus far. While he is yet to open an account in Tests, he has bagged 69 and 24 wickets respectively in 50 and 20-overs cricket. At 30, the intimidating pacer continues to remain one of the most solid contenders to rule the game in the upcoming decade.
