Former England captain Michael Vaughan lavished praise on Ben Duckett after the opener scored a match-winning knock of 149 runs to help England register a five-wicket win against India in the opening Test at Leeds, Headingley on Tuesday.
Vaughan reckons the left-hander goes under the radar as he doesn’t get the credit he deserves. Duckett had also scored a crucial knock of 62 runs in the first innings.
The southpaw had the rub of the green on his side as he was dropped when he was on 15 by Ravindra Jadeja in the first innings. Furthermore, Yashasvi Jaiswal fluffed his catch when he was on 97 in the second essay. However, Duckett batted beautifully against Ravindra Jadeja as he reversed swept him with aplomb and consistency in the second essay.
Duckett added a crucial opening alliance of 188 runs with his partner Zak Crawley, who scored 65 runs, in the run-chase of 371.
“At the heart of this win was Ben Duckett. He doesn’t get the credit he deserves in this team. Pound for pound, I reckon he is the best all-format batsman in international cricket right now. There may be players who are better at one of the formats, but none of them are as good at all three. Others in the conversation would be Travis Head or Aiden Markram, but on current form I’d have Ben over them, especially as he does it in such a tough position, opening, across all formats,” Vaughan wrote in his column for The Telegraph.
Meanwhile, Jofra Archer is getting closer to full fitness after he played for Sussex in the County Championship match against Durham. However, Vaughan urged the selectors to be patient and not rush any unfit bowlers into the squad.
“I really hope they aren’t pencilling in names this early. Don’t rotate for the sake of it. What’s the rush, when these guys have been injured and will have played so little cricket? And for who?” Vaughan questioned.
“After this, another Headingley classic, England will believe they can win any game any way. Of all their crazy wins, this was different. They weren’t in charge at any point, then pulled off a massive chase in controlled fashion. It was Bazball with brains,” he added.
The second Test match between India and England will be played at Edgbaston, Birmingham, from July 2nd onwards.
