Ben There Done That

Since the winter of 2022, Duckett has emerged as one of the best openers in Test cricket. Behind the scenes, the southpaw stripped his game before piecing it together again. Swaroop Swaminathan spoke to Ant Botha, skills coach at Nottinghamshire, to understand how he did it.

- Swaroop Swaminathan

IN the winter of 2016, in Ben Duckett's first year as an international cricketer, the batter had an Indian problem. R Ashwin had him on toast, normal Indian pitches had his number and he was dropped midway after averaging six across three innings, two Tests and 57 largely torturous minutes.

In the summer of 2025, India has a Duckett problem. He has generally had no problems in dealing with the threat of Jasprit Bumrah. The pacer averages 23.9 and strikes at 43.88 when bowling to openers in Tests. Against the southpaw from England, he strikes once every 85 deliveries and averages 55 with the ball.

In the larger scheme of things, this may be a footnote but it's representative of how Duckett has gone from end of the batting spectrum to another. In 2016, he was a walking wicket against India. Now? He's the opener the Indian bowlers hate bowling against.

Since the start of 2024, Duckett is the leading run-scorer against India with 554 and averages 46.16 with two 100s (no other player has scored over 500).

But how did the 30-year-old manage to do this? Here's Ant Botha, who knows Duckett fairly well. At the outset, Botha, the current skills coach at Nottinghamshire, makes one thing clear about his ward. "He has always had unbelievable self belief system," the South African tells this daily over phone.

"He was always talented, had great hand-eye co-ordination and very stubborn. That's always been one of his great strengths."

This is what prompted the England management to fast track Duckett into the national team in 2016. After that series in India, though, a trial by spin had seemingly put a halt to his then-fledgling career. After a few years, he moved to Notts where Botha was already in situ with Peter Moores, the former England head coach.