ICC Champions Trophy: Ben Duckett adapts and resists to put on ODI masterclass

Ben Duckett isn’t an orthodox opener who accesses conventional areas of the field for his boundaries. However, he is no less effective as Australia found out as his 165 off just 142 deliveries took England to their highest score in ICC Champions Trophy history. Staying on the backfoot, cutting and flicking against pace while playing sweeps and reverse-sweeps to the tweakers is the 30-year-old’s gameplan.

“Ben played hockey and rugby, as well as cricket, from a young age at Winchester House Prep School and throughout his time at Stowe. In hockey, he was a great exponent of reverse-hitting the ball and could already play the reverse-sweep and switch-hit when he arrived at Stowe,” James Knott, Duckett’s coach during his school days, told The Indian Express.

To Duckett, sweeps and reverse-sweeps are like Rohit Sharma’s pull shot or Virat Kohli’s cover drive. But back in 2016 when he made his international debut, he did struggle against spin. Former India off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin made him dance to his tunes on fairly docile surfaces when England toured India. The left-hander would be dropped from the team post that series.

“He came to the school for a session not long after he got back. His confidence was hit and he needed to get that back. It took time to return, but he has always been at his best when taking the attacking option,” Knott would say. “In 2016, I was with the Lions at the time we were on tour in UAE, and watching him there it felt just like he was too young and it was too early for him,” another of Duckett’s coaches, Julian Wood would recall.

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Duckett had to go back to domestic cricket and do it all over again. While he had decent seasons for Nottinghamshire, it wasn’t until 2022 that he had a breakthrough year in First-Class cricket when he managed to score 1,012 runs at an average of 72.28, returning to the England set-up when Brendon McCullum took over as the head coach of the Test team which was in tatters at the time.

When the 2019 50-over world champions and 2022 T20 World Cup winners slid in their fortunes, McCullum was given the reins of the white-ball teams as well.

Why is Duckett important for England at CT25?

England’s all-guns-blazing approach has not reaped the same rewards under Jos Buttler as they did under Eoin Morgan. There were instances during the 2023 ODI World Cup and even the recent series in India when it turned counterproductive.

Duckett is one of the better players of spin in the England team alongside Joe Root. During the ODI series against India, if he got through the Powerplay, he continued to play in the fifth gear even when the field was spread out. His wicket would prompt a collapse. While the likes of Harry Brook, Liam Livingstone and Jos Buttler can be brutal on their day, their ability to play spin and manoeuvre the ball in the middle overs is not as fluent as Duckett or Root.

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This is where Duckett’s innings on Saturday was significant for England. He did play his aggressive shots but did pick and choose his moments to do so. Australia did not feed him deliveries which he could play square of the wicket with the new ball, nor did the spinners bowl the length where he could play his cheeky sweeps. But the opener waited for his moment. He would curb his instinct to hit a fuller-length ball to cow corner or square-leg and would instead look for a single.

Australia were operating with only four frontline bowlers with Glenn Maxwell, Mathew Short, Travis Head and Marnus Labuschange to fill the fifth bowler’s quota. As soon as one of these would come into the attack, Duckett would target them with his trademark shots.

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