Ben Duckett looks to Joe Root after overcoming thumb dislocation in style
Opener shines with 84 at No.4 but seeks conversion inspiration from England’s new leading runscorer
Matt Roller09-Oct-2024Ben Duckett was at the non-striker’s end when Joe Root; hit the boundary that made himEngland’s highest-ever Test run-scorer and, after his dismissal for 84, is intent on following Root’s lead in converting his starts into match-defining hundreds. But Duckett was grateful to be batting at all after a dislocated left thumb briefly threatened to rule him out of this series.He suffered the dislocation when taking the catch – off Root’s bowling – that ended Pakistan’s first innings on the second evening of the first Test in Multan. England’s doctor Glen Rae quickly put the thumb back in place, but Duckett was unable to open the batting and feared that it would become “quite sore” overnight.In practice, it healed enough that he was able to come in at No. 4 with his thumb strapped up and he batted with characteristic aggression, hitting 40 off the 31 balls he faced from Abrar Ahmed. Duckett looked to be cruising towards a fourth Test hundred when he was trapped lbw by Aamer Jamal for his fourth score between 70 and 90 since his most recent century, in Rajkot earlier this year.”I’d done the exact same thumb in the same way a couple of years ago,” Duckett said. “When I looked at it, I knew exactly what was wrong with it. We made the decision of giving it as many hours as we could, icing it a couple of times and seeing how it was in the morning. The worry was it was going to stiffen up… thankfully, it didn’t really change too much.”I’d have certainly taken that [84] last night when it happened… I’m obviously really happy with the form that I’ve had. I’m always very critical of myself, and I know we’ve had an incredible day, so it can be looked past, but I’ve got myself in a few times in the last however many Tests, and I’m the first person to know that.”I pride myself on scoring hundreds, and today it felt like it was going to be one of those days until I missed that ball. It’s something that I’m very aware of, and that’s maybe the different side of things now: the mental side of the game of getting yourself into those positions, and really kicking on and going big.”Duckett was unable to open the batting on day two because of his injury•Getty ImagesIt is not long since there was a similar narrative around Root’s own conversion rate: from 2017-20, he passed 50 on 28 occasions but only converted six of those innings into hundreds. But since 2021, he has become a relentless run-scorer, with 15 scores of 50-99 and 18 hundreds in that time – and Duckett believes he can learn that trait from his team-mate.”The one thing now is kicking on and getting those big scores,” he said. “If I ever have that problem, I’d be pretty happy. But these things happen and for Rooty, with the amount of cricket you play, you’re going to go through periods where you don’t get over the line and you’re going to have periods – right now – where he’s cashing in and scoring hundreds for fun.”It’s just a pleasure to share the dressing room with him. You wouldn’t know that he’s achieved what he’s achieved, how he is in the dressing room: he’s such a good man to have and he’s probably still working as hard as he ever has, always grinding away in the nets. We make jokes that he says he’s out of form when he’s getting Test hundreds, so it is probably a good place for him to be.”Duckett has not had his thumb scanned, but is confident that he will be fit to play in Tuesday’s second Test. “I want to say 100 percent,” he said. “Obviously, today went well, and I’m hoping each day is going to get easier and easier… It seems like there’s no clean break, so I think it’s one of those ones where it’s going to be a bit sore for a couple of weeks.”More immediately, his focus is on helping England to win the first. “I would imagine we’ll probably try to bat for quite a lot of tomorrow,” Duckett said. “We’ve got to earn the right to do that and start well in the morning – try to limit the damage, and hopefully get ourselves in a position where, after lunch, we can really push on, and try to score as quick as we can.”[We have to] hope that there’s going to be 10 more chances. The pitch isn’t doing loads, but you’ve seen a little bit of variable bounce and a fraction more spin today… It depends how quickly we score and how well we start in the morning, and then we will be doing absolutely everything to try and take 10 wickets.”