Ben Duckett not fazed by England workload: "It's all about playing as much cricket as I can"

GEORGE DOBELL IN MOUNT MAUNGANUI: So much is the Nottinghamshire batsman loving his international return, he thought little of turning down a lucrative franchise opportunity to prioritise his England career

George Dobell | 14/02/2023 at 08:08

The burden of playing all three international formats may be too much for some players, but Ben Duckett would have it no other way.

Duckett was first picked for England as a 21-year-old. And while there were moments when he impressed - not least when scoring a couple of half-centuries in his first three ODIs - by the time he was 22 he had been dropped. For several years it was far from certain whether he would win another opportunity.

But after some sustained good form for Nottinghamshire and after proving he had matured both on and off the pitch, he won another chance. Almost six years after that original selection, he was called into the England T20 and Test squads to tour Pakistan and responded with a maiden Test century and three other half-centuries as England completed a 3-0 victory.

As a result, he has put himself within touching distance of winning a place in England's Ashes squad and, perhaps, the 50-over World Cup squad. And, so much is he loving it, he thought little of turning down a lucrative franchise opportunity to prioritise his international career.

duckett14022304

^{Ben Duckett is relishing his return to the international scene [Getty Images]}

duckett14022303

^{Duckett made a fine comeback during England's tour of Pakistan [Getty Images]}

"Yes, I am desperate to play all formats for England now," Duckett said ahead of the first Test against New Zealand. 'My sole focus is playing for England. I won't be missing out.

"Three or four years down the line, who knows? But right now, it's all about playing as much cricket as I can for England.

"I've worked really hard over the last few years and I genuinely wasn't expecting even 12 months ago to be playing all three formats. I guess that's credit for the hard work I've put in over the last few years and I'm thankful that I'm here.

"It's something I've been working for for five or six years now. I pulled out of a T20 competition [the ILT20] just before the South Africa ODIs to give myself some time to refresh. So I've already made decisions like that to give England everything. For me, this is my priority and I'll be trying to take every chance I get."

BEN DUCKETT: ENGLAND CAREER

Test: 7 matches, 467 runs (ave 38.91), 1 100, HS 107

ODI: 6 matches, 146 runs (ave 24.33), HS 63

T20I: 8 matches, 242 runs (s/r 158.16), HS 70*

It might be seen as somewhat ironic that key to Duckett's resurgence at county level was an improved defensive technique. But all anyone seems interested in at international level is how quickly he can score.

He insists, however, that there is no conflict between the two main strengths of his game.

"I back my defence now and I back myself to be able to bat for long periods of time," he said. "I think that's the one area where my game has come along. That's the biggest thing.

"You have to respect the bowlers. You're playing some of the best bowlers in the world. So, at times you're going to have to dig in.

"But I'm always looking to score, so if they miss, I'll try to capitalise on that."

duckett14022305

^{Duckett pulled out of an ILT20 gig to prioritise his international career [Getty Images]}

duckett14022302

^{Duckett will line up for England in New Zealand this month [Getty Images]}

While the Ashes and the World Cup are looming in the coming months, Duckett is trying not to let that cloud his thinking. Instead, he is trying to enjoy the moment and focus on scoring runs for England in New Zealand.

"My biggest learnings when first playing for England was not to look too far ahead," he said. "I just want to keep enjoying myself, keep scoring runs and performing for the team. If I can do that, I'll be okay.

"I put playing for England again to the back of my mind. I never wanted to believe it had been and gone for me and I still believed I had plenty of time to play for England.

"But the biggest thing for me was not thinking about playing for England, if that makes sense. Two or three years after I got dropped, I was potentially worried about what other people were doing and who was playing. But just focussing on myself and trying to score as many runs as I could was the only way to get picked.

"To be honest, there's no better time to be playing Test cricket for England. That white-ball team is so exciting with a World Cup coming up. But I'm not even thinking about something like that. I'm going to Bangladesh after this but I'm really focusing on this now."