29 June 2023 , 19:12
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Ben Duckett insisted he had no regrets about the shot which cost him an Ashes century at Lord's and claimed: “It was my best knock for England.”
In another gripping day on the Bazball rollercoaster, Duckett fell just two runs short of a thrilling ton, top-edging an attempted hook off Josh Hazlewood to David Warner at deep fine leg.
Closing on 278-4, still 138 runs adrift of Australia's 416 all out in the second Test, England lost three top-order batsmen in seven overs to strokes somewhere between misadventure and kamikaze.
But while opener Duckett admitted he was “gutted” to miss out on a third Test hundred, he denied it was a mistake to hole out with a maiden entry on the Lord's dressing room honours box there for the taking.
He said: “I'm certainly not disappointed with the shot, not at all. I would have been more gutted if I had gone into my shell.
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“That shot has got me plenty of runs in my career and that's how it got me out. I would have been disappointed if I'd gone away from my natural game, I'd be more frustrated.
“At start of day I would have been over the moon if offered 98 and being close to three figures at Lord's, I am gutted. But I am really happy with how I played, certainly my best innings in an England shirt.
“I would have been gutted with myself if I'd gone away from it, gone into my shell and gloved one behind. For three or four overs before that I felt so comfortable hitting it down to fine leg, or just behind square for one.
“Ten metres either side (of Warner) and I've got a hundred. It's a shot I play and a shot I've scored plenty of runs with in my career.
Ben Duckett plays a shot which is caught by David Warner (Getty)“Why do I have to bat like Sir Alastair Cook or these great openers of the past? I had the backing from Stokesy and Baz (skipper Ben Stokes and coach Brendon McCullum) to go and play how I play.”
Duckett bristled at the suggestion England got carried away with their Bazball aggression as they slumped from 188-1 to 222-4 after Aussie spinner Nathan Lyon had suffered a calf muscle injury which could rule him out of the series.
He said: “We've played positive cricket for 12 months and we're certainly not going to change. If we get close to Australia's total or a lead, we're certainly in this game."
Lyon – just four wickets short of 500 in Tests - hobbled off in tears and Aussie batting big gun Steve Smith, who had completed his 32nd Test century earlier, admitted: “I'm not sure how bad it is but it didn's look good. It's not ideal and he would be a huge loss.”
Smith was grateful for England's surfeit of hubris which checked their reply, adding: “We set the field and they kept taking it on.”