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EnglandBatter
Ben Duckett
- Age
- 32y 12d
- Bats
- Left-hand
- Bowls
- Right-arm off break
- From
- Farnborough
- Age
- 32y 12d
- Bats
- Left-hand
- Bowls
- Right-arm off break
- From
- Farnborough
Ben Duckett is a left-handed opening batter who first represented England in 2016, although his lasting place in the side only came in 2022 under the attacking approach known as Bazball. He began as a wicketkeeper-batter, rose through Northamptonshire's age-group system and played his first first-class match in 2013, aged 18. Before that he was part of England's squad at the 2012 Under-19 World Cup, where he averaged 19.60 across 6 games.
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His domestic breakthrough came in the 2015 County Championship, when he passed 1000 runs and made 4 hundreds. In 2016 he opened the season with an unbeaten 282 against Sussex and went on to total 1338 runs at 58.17, while also contributing heavily as Northamptonshire won the T20 Blast. Strong scoring for England Lions earned him a place on the 2016 tour of Bangladesh. He hit a half-century on ODI debut in a winning cause, fell for a duck in the second match and added another fifty in the third. In Tests he managed 14 and 15 on debut before reaching fifty in the second match. Against India he was moved to number four, with Haseeb Hameed opening, and was left out after two Tests.
Duckett was named for the 2017/18 Ashes but was removed on disciplinary grounds after allegedly pouring a drink over Jimmy Anderson; he was also fined and suspended from the Lions squad. His form suffered and his fitness drew criticism. In 2018 he joined Nottinghamshire, first on loan and then permanently, and in 2019 he made his T20I debut in a one-off game against Pakistan, but could not keep his place.
His revival began in 2022, when Ben Stokes singled him out for his aggressive strokeplay. In Pakistan he made 107 from 110 balls and added 233 for the first wicket with Zak Crawley in 216 deliveries, which the source calls the fastest double-century stand in Test history. Only Harry Brook scored more runs for England in that series. After modest returns in New Zealand, he made 182 against Ireland in 2023 and averaged 35.66 from 9 innings in the Ashes. His fast starts alongside Crawley were central to the early success of the Bazball era.
Test form brought an ODI recall, and in September 2023 he struck his first limited-overs hundred, against Ireland, though he was not chosen for the 2023 World Cup squad. On the Test tour of India he was England's second-highest run-scorer, averaging 34.3, as England lost 4-1. He then faced Sri Lanka and West Indies in home Tests and Australia in ODIs, and is now a regular in both the Test and ODI teams.
