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England's Ben Duckett acknowledges the applause from the crowd as he walks off the field after losing his wicket on day five of the first cricket test match between England and India at Headingley in Leeds, England, Tuesday, June 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Scott Heppell)
England opener Ben Duckett played a sublime 149-run innings to help the hosts chase a massive 371 runs in the final innings of Leeds at Headingly in the first Test. The opener was fluent with his sweeping and reverse sweeping, and former England cricketer David Lloyd has compared him to former Indian attacking opener Virender Sehwag.
“Ben Duckett has come a long way since he poured a drink over Jimmy Anderson on an Ashes tour. He is now England’s answer to Virender Sehwag and opening the batting in your World XI. The reverse sweep is such a natural shot for him. He plays it for fun. It’s no surprise to learn he was a good hockey player at school because it’s like a hockey shot,” Lloyd wrote in his column for the Daily Mail.
His batting coach James Knott from his school days at Stowe school had told this newspaper about the origin of that reverse sweep. “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 had told The Indian Express once.
Duckett’s mother Jayne, who represented Britain in lacrosse, is also aware that once her son is settled he can pull off anything.
“I have seen a lot of Ben and he is very nervous until he has 30 runs.” She also narrates a charming story about the time she went to watch her son bat. “He is popular with the public but in one T20 match a guy behind me said, ‘He’s not going to last long — he will be out to one of his reverse-sweeps.’ I turned around and told him that’s my son he was talking,” she told The Times.
English (US) ·