Ben Duckett has committed to Nottinghamshire at least until the end of 2023, after a breakthrough season with the club which culminated in a starring role in their second T20 Blast title in four years.
Duckett, 26, was named as Nottinghamshire’s Player of the Year for 2020 after amassing 734 runs across the Bob Willis Trophy and Blast in the truncated English season, averaging 56 and 43 respectively.
Having joined the club from Northants midway through 2018, he endured a tough season in 2019 as Notts were relegated from the top flight of the Championship without a single victory in 14 games. But Duckett found his form across formats this year, and finished the season in style, cracking 53 not out from 38 balls to see off Surrey in the Blast final at Edgbaston in October.
“Coming to Trent Bridge has been everything I wanted it to be and more,” Duckett said. “We have a group of ambitious cricketers all pulling in the same direction, the support we have from the coaches is second-to-none and I’m hugely excited about what I believe we can achieve in all forms of the game.
“We share a determination to challenge for trophies, and we hope lifting the Blast last season can be the start of something special.”
Duckett posted two first-class hundreds in the Bob Willis Trophy, cementing his place at No.3 with 116 against Lancashire and 150 against Durham, and he also contributed four half-centuries to the Blast campaign, including that role in the final.
“Ben has improved steadily over the past 12 months,” Peter Moores, Notts’ head coach. “He had a clear picture of the sort of player he wanted to become after a tough season in 2019.
“He should take a lot of credit for sticking to his guns after getting some good balls in the first few games. He backed what he had worked on and went on to become our leading run-scorer in the Bob Willis Trophy.
“He was the glue within the T20 team, scoring at a really good rate, manipulating the ball to all areas of the ground and always scoring when needed.
“He gauged the run-chase in the Final brilliantly, which was a credit to all the work he had done before. The fact that he made it look so straightforward is credit to him, and it was fitting that he was there to hit the winning runs and get us over the line.”
Source: ESPN Crickinfo