Ben Duckett: Nigel Farage texts me when I do well for England

My Sporting Life is The i Paper’s look behind the curtain at what drives sports stars to greatness. This week, we speak to Ben Duckett, the England opener whose aggressive style personified the Bazball era and who is still a key man in his country’s Test and one-day teams. I thought I’d never play for England again I’d been out of the team for six years, when I was dropped after four Tests in Bangladesh and India, and I feared I’d never play for England again. I was a young lad and I didn’t really feel like I showed what I could do. So to get a hundred in that first game back against Pakistan in 2022, taking all that pressure off me, was incredible. When I got called back into the team, I would have taken how it’s gone so far, to be nearing 50 Tests now [his 50th is set to be against South Africa at Johannesburg in December]. I didn’t think I was going to play my fifth Test. Ultimately, playing cricket for my country is something I’ve always wanted to do, so hopefully there’ll be some better moments I can add in in a few years. Maybe the Ashes or the World Cup next year. Those team ones are always more special. Hopefully there’s a few big ones around the corner. Last winter’s Ashes was the lowest point Obviously, there’s been a couple of off-the-field incidents [I’ve been involved in], but my personal performance in Australia and the Ashes last winter was the worst. Losing as we did was pretty tough. Duckett is the only England batter to score a hundred this summer (Photo: Getty) I think the individual failures you can deal with. You can choose not to see what people are saying but the team ones are harder. It’s everything you’ve worked towards and it hits the whole dressing-room, the whole country, all the fans. So it hurts more. You’ve got to watch out for Gus Atkinson in the dressing room He likes to play a few pranks. You’ve always got to be on alert around him. Your phone, or anything, will go missing. He’ll nick something out of your bag. Bits of kit or whatever. But he has toned it down a bit recently. Nigel Farage congratulates me when I do well for England It’s a strange one. It’s so random. I’ve never met him. He followed me on Twitter years ago. I think he might be a Notts fan, strangely, which might be why. I’ve got his number now and he texts me if I do well – saying “Well done, Nigel F”. It’s pretty random. I need to get him in a Duckett’s Buckets [his hat business] at some point. Whether that would be good for the brand or not, I’m not sure. Piers Morgan is another. He’s big into his cricket. Our first exchange on social media was funnily enough after the Jimmy [Anderson] episode in Australia [when he poured a drink over Anderson on the 2017-18 Ashes tour in Perth’s Avenue bar]. He likes the misdemeanours Piers, doesn’t he? I think he wanted to get a story out of it at the time. At a very young age, it was pretty cool to have someone like Piers Morgan contacting you. We didn’t get any story out there but have kind of stayed in touch ever since. Two controversial figures. Maybe that’s down to my off-field antics. I wish I looked after myself better when I was younger If I could change anything it would be to prioritise off-field maturity and fitness. It’s tough because I came in at such a young age – 22 – and you’re still growing up as a human being. It’s something I’ve done over the past three or four months and I’ve seen a lot of benefits. I’m at the back end of the summer and my body feels fresh. My mind feels fresh. My career, I can’t look back on that and say I regret anything. I’m nearly 50 Test matches in, I’ve played over 100 games for England, I’ve scored hundreds, so I think just prioritising the fitness side of things which could have helped me throughout my career is what I’d change. Winning the Ashes next year would make everything worth it If we’re chatting this time next year and there’s an Ashes under our belt, everything is kind of worth it. That’s the dream. For me, you only have to look back to 2005 watching that series and watching England beat Australia was incredible. So, hopefully, I’m here and we’ve won some games and we’ve got confidence going into that series. I’m sure it’ll be a great one. Tyrells Crisps are proud to be Official Snack Partner of England Cricket. Visit: https://www.tyrrellscrisps.co.uk/