London [UK], March 28 (ANI): Following his withdrawal from the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026, where he was to represent Delhi Capitals (DC), England opener Ben Duckett expressed hope that the team management would look at his move in a positive way following a disastrous Ashes tour to Australia and has made scoring runs for Nottinghamshire in the upcoming County Championship season his immediate priority.

DC was left deprived of a top-class T20I opening option as Duckett withdrew from the IPL three days back with focus on getting his English Test career back on track following a shocker of an Ashes tour Down Under, where he could score just 202 runs across five Tests at an average of 20.20, with best score of 42. Since his recall in the Test side in 2022, this was the first Test series in which the swashbuckling left-hander averaged under 30. Throughout the series, it was either Duckett failing to capitalise on promising starts or just getting devoured by quality Australian pace, particularly Mitchell Starc right in the start.

While Duckett still finished the 2025 calendar year with 735 runs in 10 Tests at an average of 40.83, strike rate of over 88, with two centuries and three fifties in 18 innings, Duckett's numbers in the Ashes did massive damage to his numbers, and the batter could have finished with much better numbers given the form displayed leading up the tour, including a domineering 149 at Leeds against India in the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy, where he made 462 runs in five Tests, including a ton and three fifties.

Speaking ahead of the County Championship, Duckett said as quoted by ESPNCricinfo that he hopes to catch up with head coach Brendon McCullum next week.

'Now they know I am not going to the IPL... I am sure they will look at that in a positive way, with how I am looking forward with my career.' Duckett said.

'We (he with skipper Ben Stokes and coach Brendon McCullum) have not had loads of discussions. I think I am going to give Baz a call next week, have a little catch-up. See how he is doing and stuff. Ultimately, he has had a long winter as well, and it is not all about me,' he added.

Duckett looks forward to spending some time with his family and scoring some valuable runs for Notts, which will help him regain his touch ahead of the Test summer in June at home, which starts against New Zealand.

'It is nice to have a bit of time at home. Ultimately, for me, it is pretty black and white - I just want to score runs for Notts, perform to the best of my ability, and whatever the case may be moving forward,' he said.

Duckett said that he is not proud of the Ashes series he had in Australia and wants to do well and win an Ashes series. However, he spoke of having 'achieved some things in an England shirt I never thought he would do'. Indeed, after a horror start to his career in Asian conditions back in 2016, averaging just 15.71 in four Tests and seven innings against Bangladesh and India with just one fifty, the left-hander has come a long way since his 2022-recall, earning a reputation as one of the most destructive openers since then, with a Test average close to 40 after 43 Tests, over 3,000 runs, six centuries and 16 fifties.

The left-hander also admitted the difficulties of opening against new ball in Australia and pointed to Joe Root's late success after a lengthy patch in Australia without a Test ton.

'I have had a bad series. I know that, I am not proud of it, I did not want it to go that way. But I do feel I have achieved some things in an England shirt I never thought I would do,' he said.

'The one thing is I would love to win an Ashes and perform well in an Ashes. But I also know that opening the batting against the brand new ball in the hardest conditions every single time, it is not going to always work out like that. Rooty (Joe Root), what, it was his fourth Ashes away or something? And he finally conquered it, almost. It us a tough place to go, it is not somewhere we normally go and win, or have batters averaging 60, 70 throughout the top order. It is hard.'

'I am trying now to park that, and sometimes you have got to hold your hands up and say they were better. It was extremely difficult. That is probably where, over the last two months, I have struggled with it,' he added.

Duckett also spoke that leading upto the series, he was not in an optimum condition, having got married and being on a honeymoon outing ahead of the series.

'I obviously got married, had a honeymoon, and I potentially got that wrong,' Duckett said of the weeks leading into the New Zealand ODI series that took place just before the Ashes series.

After scoring just 11 runs in three innings in New Zealand in seaming conditions, Duckett was amongst the first players to take the flight to Australia early for work on his fitness, while plenty of his teammates stayed back for a golf trip. Duckett also opened up on how professionalism stays an area of improvement for the team and how he has always had an 'up and down' relationship with his fitness. Fitness is something he wants to prioritize and improve on ahead in his career.

' Throughout the Ashes, I was working hard, and I do not think I was in really bad shape. But I have always had a journey where I have kind of gone up and down with it,' he said.

'I am getting older now and, when I finish playing for England, whenever that is, I hope it is due to the amount of runs I have scored, not injuries, picking up niggles, those kinds of things. Just trying to be really focused on making sure my body is in a good place and that element is not an issue,' Duckett said.

'We are playing professional sport for our country, so professionalism should be a non-negotiable. It is not a secret, it is something I have struggled with throughout my career, from Under-19 cricket. Certainly, for me, this block is more important for me in terms of my fitness side of things. I am not getting any younger, and I definitely want to make that a priority moving forward,' the English prayer said.

'It is no secret that we can definitely tighten up on some areas, and I think that will be the case moving forward. To be honest, I'm all for it. I want to prolong playing cricket for England, and the professional side of that is certainly going to help,' he concluded his point.

The trip to Australia also brought some mental challenges. Aside from his battles against Starc, in which he failed miserably, Duckett faced a lot of trolling and harsh judgement of fans on social media when a clip of him seemingly looking drunk surfaced, in which he was struggling to find his way back to the team hotel. This video was perhaps from the time when the team took a trip to Noosa between the second and third Test for some relaxation.

The regret for his actions remains heavy on his head, and he appreciates the support shown by some quarters of the cricketing community, including his own board, the captain Ben Stokes and even the Australian batter Travis Head, who got in touch with him and even defended his actions publicly during a presser.

'It is not something any professional sportsman should be doing,' Duckett said. 'I think it is a fine line of the timing that came out. It seemed like the day before a Test or something, but we were having a break, which was planned before the series,' he added.

'If we are winning that series, it (drinking) probably not news. No one cares. If Travis Head's in that video, everyone is probably absolutely loving it. And that is sport; we were struggling as a side, I was struggling as a player, you should not be putting yourself in a position like that, any human being, let alone a professional sportsman. That was a really tough period for me, and certainly wasn't my favourite Christmas I have had in my life,' he said.

'I guess the one thing, looking back on it, is the support I had from the ECB. They could have easily not been very supportive to one of their players who, in a tough moment in a big series, it was not what they needed. I thank Keysy (managing director Rob Key), Baz, Stokesy for all the support that they gave me. Certainly, I should not be doing that. I did hold my hands up but, but yeah, I am not very proud of it and got to move on now,' he signed off. (ANI)