ENG vs IRE: Ben Duckett clobbers his career-best 178-ball 182
England opener Ben Duckett played a brilliant hand against Ireland in the one-off Test match at Lord's. He allowed England to set the tone after they bundled out Andrew Balbirnie's men for only 172. This was Duckett's second Test century and his maiden in England and he finished with his career-best score of 182 runs off 178 deliveries. Here we decode his stats.
A blazing knock from Duckett
Duckett is known for his aggressive batting up the order and he did just that against the Irish pacers. He stitched a 109-run opening stand with Zak Crawley. He then, added another century-plus partnership with Ollie Pope, helping England in securing the lead. He completed his hundred in 106 deliveries and went on to slam his career-best 182 runs.
Maiden 50-plus score at home
Surprisingly, this is Duckett's maiden Test match in England. Before this, the southpaw played nine Test matches but all of them were away from home. Also, his 182 is the highest score by an England opener in a Test since December 2017. Alastair Cook slammed a mammoth 244 against Australia in 2017 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. Overall, this is his second Test century.
Duckett's stellar strike rate in the last year
Duckett has had a stellar strike rate in Test matches in the last year (June 1, 2022- May 31, 2023) Here are the best strike rates in Tests in this period. 98.77 - Harry Brook 97.77 - Rishabh Pant 96.59 - Jonny Bairstow 95.48 - Ben Duckett 82.42 - Travis Head The above batters have scored a minimum of 300 runs.
Duckett scripts this unique record
Duckett became the third batter with 500-plus Test runs and 60-plus average and a 90-plus strike rate since the start of 2022. Here is the list of batters with these stats: Harry Brook Rishabh Pant Ben Duckett.
Fastest 150 in Test matches at the Lord's
Duckett brought up his 150 runs in exactly as many balls and it became the fastest 150 at Lord's. The southpaw has broken a 93-year-old record set by Sir Donald Bradman in 1930 against England. Bradman took 166 balls to complete his 150.
Duckett completes 800 Test runs
The left-handed batter has played with panache and raced to 800 runs in only 10 Test matches at an average of 50. Besides, two centuries, he has also smoked five fifties in the longest format of the game. His other century came against Pakistan which marked his return to Test cricket. This was his maiden test at home and also against Ireland.
