Duckett Shows His Class to Put the Pressure on Old Guard

IN the end, the aggro lifted but the compelling, competitive cricket remained as England sealed a hard fought, straight-talking series win over Bangladesh with a four-wicket victory in Chittagong.

- Will Macpherson

Given the conditions (both in the air and of the pitch), the quality of the opposition, the tour’s carry-on and the notable absentees, England’s assistant coach Paul Farbrace rated this a “hugely satisfying” series win.

“There’s been a lot around this tour,” he said. “Whether we should come or not, whether individual players would come. You get here and you see the guns and SWAT team. That’s quite a lot for young blokes to take on board. The ones who have come will go away with a series win in a spicy series, but for a lot of young blokes it’s been a good learning experience, too.”

Two of those, Sam Billings and Ben Duckett, anchored an impressive chase of 278, the highest in Chittagong by more than 50 runs, and England’s highest in Bangladesh. Vicecaptain Ben Stokes, revelling in his responsibility, came together with Chris Woakes to share 42 and see the tourists home with 13 balls to spare.

Billings replaced the injured Jason Roy, but would have come in for James Vince had Roy’s right quadricep recovered in time. His absence left England without their entire first-choice top order, but the performances of Billings (62) and Duckett (63) not only secured the win but fired a warning shot to the returning ODI regulars for January’s tour of India and beyond.