Ben Duckett: Northamptonshire star out to prove people wrong after a hellish winter of suspension and surgery

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW
Will Macpherson9 April 2018

Ben Duckett knows what people think, and he is desperate to change the perception. He is known not as one of England’s most talented young batsmen, but as the cheeky boy who poured a drink on James Anderson’s head.

“I’ll tweet about the weather,” he jokes, “and someone will reply about what happened in Perth. I can’t change the past, so I just laugh.”

For Duckett, a hellish winter of suspension and surgery is turning to spring and the chance to bat again - the obvious opportunity to change the thinking among England’s management and fans - is approaching.

Duckett left Australia in ignominy in December after the Anderson incident - “definitely the lowest point of my career” he says. Since, he has undergone surgery on his left hand. “I’m just desperate to play a game of cricket,” he says. That will come soon, but Northamptonshire’s season opener at Lord’s on Friday may be too soon.

Ups and downs of a top talent

 

Summer 2015
Sent home from Northamptonshire’s pre-season tour for fitness issues (he had previously been banished by England U-19s for similar reasons), then handed 12-month driving ban for drink-driving. Scores five first-class centuries, as many as anyone in county cricket that summer.

 

Summer 2016
Scores 2,706 runs across all formats, including 1,338 in the County Championship and plays a vital role in Northants’ T20 triumph. Does the double at the PCA Awards and also wins Cricket Writers’ Club young player of the year. 

 

Winter 2016
Called up, aged 21, for England’s tour of Bangladesh and India. Starts well, with two half-centuries in three ODIs against Bangladesh but is picked apart by off-spin in his three Tests. Dropped with England 1-0 down against India.

 

Winter 2017-18
Gets chance to play a tour match for England while on the Lions tour but is suspended for a late-night incident in Perth. Duckett is left out of Lions tour to Caribbean, then needs surgery on an injured hand.

Following an extraordinary, transformative season in 2016, when he scored 2,706 runs across all formats and cleaned up in awards season, Duckett won four Test and three ODI caps on the subcontinent in 2016. At 23, he is desperate to play international cricket again, but knows his first job is to shed his rowdy reputation.

He was not the first or the only one to pour a drink that night in Perth in December, but he was the only one seen doing so by England’s security team, who had allowed the players to return to The Avenue, the venue Jonny Bairstow had been accused of head-butting Cameron Bancroft weeks earlier.

“What happened wasn’t a brutal thing,” says Duckett. “It was two mates messing around. It wasn’t malicious, but it was stupid. It could have been a lot worse. We carried on having a fun night together and thought nothing of it.”

Duckett was deemed to have form and was handed an astronomical punishment to fit a hysterical time, rather than a terrible crime. The sanctions left members of both England and the Lions squads staggered but was the strong deterrent the management craved; it was the last tale of late-night indiscretion of a tempestuous winter. He was stood down from England’s tour match against a Western Australia XI and the Lions’ three matches against Perth Scorchers.

Two of those were at the new Perth Stadium and particularly hurt: “class opposition, against Mitchell Johnson, the highlight of the tour and a great opportunity, gone. I’m just watching on, carrying the drinks”. Duckett was also docked £1,500 (half his tour fee and the maximum fine possible) and handed a first and final warning, then left out of the Lions’ terrible Caribbean tour.

"What happened wasn’t a brutal thing. It was two mates messing around. We thought nothing of it."

&#13; <p>Ben Duckett</p>&#13;

The experience changed him. He spent time feeling sorry for himself, then looked to use the situation as source for motivation. “I felt finished,” he reflects. “My emotions were all over the place. I’m quite a bubbly guy, but I was giving nothing to the side, I was drained and struggling. I’ve never gone through anything like that before.

“I did something stupid at a very bad time, in a very bad place. After the few months England had had, it was not good thinking. At a different time it might have been different, but I take full responsibility. Now it motivates me. I have to prove people wrong. I have to, and I really want to. I don’t want to be known as the guy who is constantly in trouble, always doing stupid things.

“I don’t ever think I’ll be the goody-goody of the group, and I think it would be silly to curb a strength, which is my character. But I need to make better decisions to stay out of trouble, and to say no occasionally.

“I don’t think I’ve suddenly become introspective and boring, sat quietly in the corner, but what’s happened has given me a clearer perspective and I know what I need to do to stay out of trouble and make people realise how much I want to play for England.”

Duckett, who is in the final year of his Northants contract, acknowledges that time away from the game can be helpful and has used his break well, shedding 5kg through gym work and by “improving my lifestyle and nutrition”.

Duckett does not have regrets about his first taste of international cricket. He scored two sixties in three ODIs but found life tougher in Tests. A “technical flaw you don’t know about at county level” saw him expose his stumps to off-spin, which was ruthlessly laid bare by Ravichandaran Ashwin. By the time he was dropped, after the first of four straight England defeats, “it was actually a bit of a relief. I had a technical issue that I couldn’t turn round in four hours in the nets”. That issue, he believes, is now fixed.

“I learnt a lot in those few weeks being around the guys,” he says. “Jos Buttler encouraged me, however well or badly I was doing, to stay level-headed. I took a lot from that series and it’s helped me. I’ve tried to enjoy my cricket, however it’s going.”

The sense is that a terrific talent has turned a corner. Duckett has a habit of going really big, and doing so fast: the smallest of his four Championship tons in 2016 was 185, his career strike-rate is above 70. He knows the road back will not be simple. A 2018 similar to 2016 would be handy, but more vital is staying out of trouble.

“I’ve worked hard on my fitness, I’ve got a bat back in my hand and things look positive,” he says. “Hopefully, I’ve got everything [bad] out the way early in my career. I need to knuckle down. I’m still young, still learning, but it gets to the stage where you need to have learnt. Now’s the time for that.”

Will Macpherson joins the Evening Standard as Cricket and Rugby Correspondent. Will covered the Ashes for the Times this winter and has reported for the Guardian and cricinfo.

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