EXCLUSIVEUltimate Bazballer Ben Duckett opens up on why he'll never change the way he plays, having faced 1,915 balls in Tests - and has only left 31!
- Ben Duckett has opened up on why he will never change his style of play
- The England star, who turns 30 in October, also revealed how he is maturing
- Duckett also revealed why his 153 from 150 balls at Rajkot is his favourite innings
It’s not even two years since Ben Duckett returned to Test cricket, hoping – perhaps even praying – that his second crack would go better than his first.
Now, he is not only a top-order fixture: he is one of the team’s most unapologetic spokesmen, barely pausing when asked why England’s Bazballers – after 17 often thrilling wins in 26 Tests – still attract criticism.
‘In the world we live in, some people can never be happy, and can never make positive comments,’ he says. ‘They’re always looking to dig and criticise the way anyone plays.
‘The way we play our cricket, with a smile on our faces, gets perceived that we don’t care as much. But I can tell you that every single person who walks out on that field is desperate to win. We just want to do it in a slightly more entertaining way. I think we have done that.
‘I remember playing in the Hundred last year straightaway after the Ashes, and so many kids coming up to me saying they’d watched the Ashes and loved how the team was playing. That’s exactly why we do it.’
England star Ben Duckett has opened up on why he will never change his brilliant batting style
England will face Sri Lanka in a three-Test tour throughout August and September, ahead of their upcoming Ashes Series in Australia
Duckett reveals he is never satisfied with his performance and wants the next two year to be 'even better'
England’s new style tends to be associated with the same group of names: Brendon McCullum, Ben Stokes, Jonny Bairstow, Zak Crawley. But Duckett, who during his six years out of the side feared his style was unsuited to Test cricket, has built an impressive CV of his own.
When he walks out to bat against Sri Lanka at Old Trafford next week, he will be armed with an average of 41, a strike-rate of 85, and – above all – the confidence to be himself.
Even if you throw in the false start he made in India in 2016-17, no one in Test cricket has scored more runs, more quickly, since his debut. For context, Virender Sehwag – the buccaneering Indian once regarded as the world’s most attacking opener – had a strike-rate of 82.
‘If you’d have offered me in 2022 the two years I’ve had, I’d have snapped your hand off,’ Duckett tells Mail Sport. ‘But I’m the kind of guy who’s never satisfied. I want the next two years to be even better.’
It is a sentiment he once thought impossible, not least because of his disinclination to leave the ball, supposedly a crucial weapon in an opener’s arsenal.
Of the 1,915 deliveries he has faced in Test cricket, he has offered no shot to just 31. A leave percentage of 1.62 sounds like the work of a tail-end slogger, yet it has forged Duckett’s identity.
With Crawlay ruled out of the Sri Lanka series by a broken finger, Duckett is now England’s senior opener
Duckett (right) is one of the team’s most unapologetic spokesmen, barely pausing when asked why England’s Bazballers – after 17 often thrilling wins in 26 Tests – still attract criticism
‘I’m only conscious of the stat because of the noise around it,’ he says. ‘And I’m not surprised there is noise. During the break between my two Test careers, I didn’t believe I could play Test cricket because I didn’t leave the ball much.
‘It was Baz [McCullum] who said: “Why do you have to go and bat like these previous openers? Why can’t you be the best version of yourself?”
‘That’s what I am. It has its downfalls: I nick off quite a lot. But I’ve also scored a lot of runs in that area. If I start to leave more balls, I bet you I’d still nick off and score a lot less runs.’
The logic is pure Bazball, and it suits Duckett to a T. His first stint as a Test cricketer had ended with a tortured 16-ball duck after England captain Alastair Cook told him to block for a draw against India’s slow bowlers at Visakhapatnam in November 2016.
His next Test innings, under McCullum and Stokes in December 2022 at Rawalpindi, brought him a scintillating 107 off 110 deliveries against Pakistan. Embraced by the new regime, he has responded as they hoped he would.
Duckett’s on-field maturation has been matched by developments off it. Where once the sleepless nights were caused by Indian off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin, he can now blame baby Margot, born last month to his partner, Paige – though he admits he sleeps in the spare room the night before a game.
He will go out to bat in Manchester alongside Surrey’s Dan Lawrence (right), a good friend brought closer by their golfing exploits
Duckett’s on-field maturation has been matched by developments off it, with the cricketer having become a father just last month
‘I’ve definitely grown up,’ says Duckett, who turns 30 in October. ‘I wasn’t ready for a baby a couple of years ago. I’m praying it’s true that when you have your first child you end up getting a lot more runs. The game plays second fiddle when you’ve got a baby to go to at home.’
Unsurprisingly, he nominates his 153 off 151 balls at Rajkot in February, against an attack including Ashwin, as his favourite Test innings.
He says it was a ‘blessing’ that India’s captain Rohit Sharma didn’t bring Ashwin on until Duckett had 55, but no matter: ‘To say I’ve got a hundred, and to have played against him the way I did in that innings, was a really happy moment for me.’ Even Ashwin seemed pleased for his former bunny.
Duckett also upset his hosts during that third Test by suggesting Bazball had helped inspire the aggressive brilliance of Indian opener Yashasvi Jaiswal. The idea that England deserved ‘some credit’ was cited by many as proof of their arrogance, but he insists his comments were ‘overblown’.
‘It was actually me paying him a nice compliment,’ he says. ‘I’m pretty sure I said he was a world-class player, but no one spoke about that.
‘Would I have said what I did during the fifth Test? No, because he played like that throughout the whole series and he was incredible.’
But Duckett’s Rajkot tour de force remains one of only three hundreds in his 23 Tests, and serves as a reminder that he also has seven scores between 71 and 98 – including a pair of seventies in the recent win over West Indies at Trent Bridge.
‘Trust me, I do think about it quite a bit,’ he says. ‘It’s really frustrating. In my county career, my conversion rate has always been the strongest part of my game. Thankfully, I’ve got an opportunity to play three more Tests this summer, then hopefully go to Pakistan.’
Duckett added that he felt like his batting had gone 'to a different level' and couldn't put his finger on why
Duckett’s form in the Hundred scoring 262 runs at an average of 87 and strike-rate of 175 has helped Birmingham reach Saturday's Eliminator final
He must first adjust to a new challenge. With Crawlay ruled out of the Sri Lanka series by a broken finger, Duckett is now England’s senior opener, and will go out to bat in Manchester alongside Surrey’s Dan Lawrence, a good friend brought closer by their golfing exploits.
‘We’ve only lost one match as a pair,’ says Duckett, who plays off eight (Lawrence plays off five). ‘Annoyingly it was against Harry Brook and Zak, who both play off scratch.
‘If I could open with anyone in the world, it would be Zak. The partnership we’ve evolved together is something I really will miss this series. But it’ll be good fun opening with Lozza. Hopefully he can get the best out of me like he does on the golf course.’
If Duckett’s form in the Hundred is anything to go by, that shouldn’t be a problem: his 262 runs at an average of 87 and strike-rate of 175 have helped take Birmingham Phoenix into Saturday's eliminator against Southern Brave at The Oval.
‘My batting has felt like it has gone to a different level, which I can’t really put my finger on,’ he says. He won’t overthink it, though. That wouldn’t be Bazball. And it wouldn’t be Duckett.
