Duckett admits first England ton was "the worst I'll feel on a cricket pitch"

13 January 2023 , 13:23

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Duckett admits first England ton was "the worst I'll feel on a cricket pitch"

England opener Ben Duckett has admitted that scoring his maiden Test century against Pakistan is "probably the worst I'll feel on a cricket pitch" after he was one of the squad members laid low by illness in the lead up to the first Test in Rawalpindi.

Around half of the squad caught the virus with wicketkeeper Ben Foakes too unwell to play. Duckett recovered enough to feature and marked his return to Test cricket after a six-year absence by smashing a brilliant 107 off just 110 balls.

It was a dream return for the 28-year-old, who ended the series as the second-leading run scorer with 357 runs at an average of 71.40. However, Duckett views his hundred in Rawalpindi as something of a missed opportunity as he felt he had a chance to score "the easiest double hundred going".

Reflecting on the innings he told the Wisden Cricket Weekly podcast : "It was a really weird moment because we were all in bed for two days leading up to it and that's probably the worst I'll feel on a cricket pitch, certainly playing for England!

"I just tried to focus and give it absolutely everything. Looking back, I've probably thrown away the easiest double hundred going on a flat pitch against the attack in those conditions.

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"All I remember is getting to a hundred and all my energy and emotions just gone through the roof. As soon as I got to that moment, I just kind of decided 'I'm just going to try and hit every ball for four after this' because I just had nothing left in me.

Ben Duckett celebrates his maiden Test hundred (Philip Brown/Popperfoto/Popperfoto via Getty Images)

"Purely because I was just feeling ill, so not quite how I imagined my first Test hundred but I was just buzzing to get there." Duckett has earned plenty of plaudits since returning to the Test team and former England assistant coach Paul Farbrace believes he deserves the chance to open in the Ashes this summer.

"A lot of people have talked about 'horses for courses', is he just a selection for the subcontinent? No, he's not," Farbrace told Sky Sports News. "He should open the batting next summer against Australia in the Ashes, and I hope he does the same in the New Zealand series in February as well.

"He looks a top player and he looks like he belongs in international cricket. I was on the tour to India and Bangladesh [when Duckett last played Test cricket in 2016] and Ben had a really tough time, he found it difficult, but the great thing about Ben is he's gone away and worked extremely hard. He's worked so hard and played in a way he's probably played the way he always wanted to play."

Matthew Cooper