[1] Duffus was educated in Johannesburg, where he gained a Bachelor of Commerce degree at Witwatersrand University by part-time study.
[4] Duffus quit his junior accountancy position with the Victoria Falls and Transvaal Power Company in Johannesburg in 1929 to accompany the South African cricket team on their tour of England in the hope of earning enough money from freelance reporting to pay for the trip.
[1] During the 1935 South African tour of England he was summoned from the press box to field as a substitute against Glamorgan.
He caught Dyson at slip, which helped in ensuring the tourists' victory in front of a large Swansea crowd.
[1][7] He compiled and edited Volume 3 of the official history of South African cricket, covering the years from 1927 to 1947.