Duckett’s form at the top of the order had been one of the positives for England in an otherwise disappointing campaign. He made two half-centuries across the T20I and ODI series, in which England won just one of the eight matches, but contributed regular strong starts in the powerplay, alongside Phil Salt, which whom he made three consecutive fifty stands.
However, Duckett appeared to tweak his groin while fielding in the latter stages of India’s innings in the final ODI at Ahmedabad on Wednesday, and was visibly hampered while making a boundary-laden 34 in England’s subsequent innings.
However, with England having decamped to the UAE ahead of their Champions Trophy campaign, scans on Duckett’s groin have revealed no significant issue, and an ECB press release declared him “fit and available” for England’s tournament opener against Australia in Lahore on February 22.
England are due to arrive in Pakistan on February 18, and the news is a welcome boost given the squad’s other injury concerns. They have already lost Jacob Bethell to a hamstring injury, with Somerset’s Tom Banton drafted into the squad as a replacement, while Jamie Smith has not featured since the third ODI on January 28 due to a calf injury.
There are concerns among the fast-bowling contingent too, with Brydon Carse managing a toe injury and Jamie Overton affected by a hamstring issue. Jofra Archer is also nursing a cut hand.
The squad has had to ride out criticism of their training methods, too, with Kevin Pietersen particularly outspoken about their lack of net practice during the ODI series.
Renewing his attack on X on Thursday, Pietersen said that injuries are part and parcel of sport, adding that that was not what was stopping “batters from batting against net bowlers and learning the art of playing spin”.
“Guys have come from a lot of cricket and keeping guys fresh is just as important, especially when you have injuries,” he said. “We’ve done lots of training. We have had injuries in the camp so we’ve backed guys off a little bit to make sure we had a fit team.”
Source: ESPN Crickinfo