Follow UsEngland had a miserable 2023 ODI World Cup, winning just three of the nine matches while barely qualifying for the ICC Champions Trophy 2025. However, if you think the World Cup was bad for the team, things got even worse after that, as they managed to win just four of their 14 matches leading into the Champions Trophy — the least among all ODI sides in this period.
While results may not have gone their way, England have made some harsh yet right calls in terms of their team combination. In the batting department, Jonny Bairstow, Dawid Malan and Ben Stokes were deemed redundant, with Phil Salt, Liam Livingstone and the key player among them, Ben Duckett, coming in.
Moreover, head coach Matthew Mott, who led England to their T20 World Cup title in 2022, was also let go off after England failed to do anything worthwhile in the 2023 and the 2024 World Cups.
Brendon McCullum, who had given England a new lease of life in Tests, was entrusted to pump in the much-needed energy and, more importantly, get similar results he got with the Test side.
That has certainly not started well, as they have lost seven out of eight white-ball matches. However, amid all this, one cannot question Duckett's intensity and hunger to score runs. Since the end of the 2023 World Cup, no England player has scored more runs in ODIs for England than him. He has contributed in nearly all the games, ensuring that he's done his part to get England off to a brisk start.
In this period, he has failed to get past 30 just thrice in 12 innings, and only on four occasions has he scored at a strike rate under 100. Australia clearly seems to be his favourite opponent with scores of 95, 32, 8, 63, and 107 before this match.
What makes him special is that he is able to access square of the wicket on both sides with utmost ease. His low centre of gravity allows him to get really low and sweep well. And that also allows him to rock back and manoeuvre the ball square on the off and on side, in what can be termed as short-arm jabs.
Like he showed today against Adam Zampa and Glenn Maxwell, he is also not afraid to charge down the dispatch them when the the ball is there.
Duckett also embodies a McCullum mindset, having been part of his Test side for a couple of years. “If we lose 3-0 to India, I don’t care as long as we beat them in the final of the Champions Trophy. If we do that, we probably won’t look back on this if we do the business in that competition," the southpaw said ahead of the Ahmedabad ODI when England were staring at a whitewash, indicating his ability to remain focussed and move on quickly.
While the tracks in Pakistan are expected to be as flat as they come, the focus will be on the bowlers and the variations they offer to keep the runs down. That doesn't mean as a batter you cannot make the best of the conditions, right? That's exactly what Duckett has done, and England will hope that he continues doing so amid this period of lull they are going through.
England will hope that this is the first of many centuries to come in this Champions Trophy.