IND vs ENG: Childhood hockey behind Ben Duckett’s sweep success as he takes down Ashwin at Rajkot

Ben Duckett’s school coach in his formative years isn’t one bit surprised at the events unfolding in Rajkot where his ward almost threatened Gilbert Jessop’s long-standing English record for the fastest Test hundred. Playing hockey and excelling in reverse hits in that sport is the reason Duckett sweeps as well as he has done this series, says the coach James Knott.

R Ashwin was on a high after taking his 500th Test wicket, and the evening’s contest had resolved into Ashwin vs Ben Duckett. Ashwin has had experience of four innings against Bazball, the last of which he had won in the chase at Vizag. He has also had prior success against Duckett in 2016 when the left-hander was dropped after eking out just 18 runs from three innings. When he had returned to his school coach in England after that trip, his “confidence was hit” but he was determined to plot his comeback.

By the time Ashwin had come on in the second day at Rajkot, Duckett had swept and reverse-swept Kuldeep Yadav out of attack and unfurled a few characteristically-nonchalant chops through the off side to neuter Mohammad Siraj who had made a promising start with the new ball.

Ben Duckett, take a bow! 🙌

He achieves his 3️⃣rd Test century, also marking the fastest by an 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 batter in India! 🤯#INDvENG #JioCinemaSports #BazBowled #IDFCFirstBankTestSeries pic.twitter.com/u1BtaGs35M

— JioCinema (@JioCinema) February 16, 2024

Ashwin had to do something now. He did, but the ball was repeatedly thrown back from deep midwicket. With his low centre of gravity, the short-statured Duckett would time and again stretch his right foot way across to the on side, opening himself up considerably, and stay low to thunderously sweep the ball from the line of stumps up and over midwicket. Ashwin kept changing the angle further away, but Duckett kept smashing them. When the inevitable dragging back of the length – and not a short ball necessarily but a tad shorter, Duckett would whack it over midwicket.

Watching Duckett unfold his trickery from England is his batting coach James Knott from Stowe school. “Ben played hockey and rugby, as well as cricket from a young age at Winchester House Prep School and then 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. We worked more on the orthodox sweep and the paddle sweep which he didn’t play as much,” the coach tells The Indian Express.

Three times Ben Duckett has gone out to spin the series has been all trying to defend the ball. But when he tried to get on one knee and unleash the broom the Indian spinners had no answers whatsoever.

💯 DUCKY! That is one dominant innings!

Match Centre: https://t.co/W5T5FEBY7t

🇮🇳 #INDvENG 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | @BenDuckett1 pic.twitter.com/YFJRQq2Khv

— England Cricket (@englandcricket) February 16, 2024

Duckett’s cuts of Siraj stood out for its startling simplicity. He made it appear as Siraj was bowling far shorter. He would side-step a touch or stay compactly side-on, collapse his arms, creating width where none existed and that wristy quick-arm flourish finishes the execution.

“Again he will get one side of the ball; he tends to get the leg side of the ball to cut on the off side. You would think that in-swinging balls might cause troubles to him but it does to most people. But he is allowed to play that way and that is a refreshing thing for you as a player that you get the backing of everyone. Then it makes it easier to play,” Wood says.

Overcoming the nightmares of 2016

As confident as Duckett looks now, the 2016 failures in India did hurt. “He did, he came into school for a session not long after he got back. His confidence was hit and he needed to get that back,” Knott would recall. “It took time to come, but he has always been at his best when positive and taking the attacking option At the age he is now he knows his game inside out and knows better how to deal with different pitches and situations.”

The coach says even he has been surprised with one development. “I thought this (resurgence) would be in white ball but delighted at how successful he has been in Test cricket,” Knott says. In 29 innings Duckett opened for England he churned out 1234 runs at an average of 45.73. “Ben doesn’t care who the opposition is; he just wants to be out there batting.” Not just batting, but batting the living daylights out of the opposition.

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