NO WAY I'D DUCK THAT CHALLENGE

Ben insists he has no regrets about shot that cost him a Ton as hooks hurt English

- MIKE WALTERS AND DEAN WILSON

BEN DUCKETT insists he has no regrets over the shot that cost him an Ashes century at Lord's and claimed: 'It was my best knock for England.'

In another gripping day on the Bazball rollercoaster, Duckett fell just two runs short of a thrilling ton, top-edging an attempted hook off Josh Hazlewood to David Warner at deep fine leg.

Closing on 278-4, still 138 runs adrift of Australia's 416 all out in the second Test, England lost three top-order batsmen in seven overs to strokes somewhere between misadventure and kamikaze.

But opener Duckett said: "I'm certainly not disappointed with the shot, not at all. I'd have been more gutted if I'd gone into my shell.

"That shot has got me plenty of runs in my career and that's how it got me out. I would have been disappointed if I'd gone away from my natural game, I'd be more frustrated.

"At the start of day I'd have been over the moon if offered 98 and being close to three figures at Lord's. I'm gutted but I'm really happy with how I played, certainly my best innings for England.

"For three or four overs before that I felt so comfortable hitting it down to fine leg, or just behind square for one. Ten metres either side of Warner and I've got a hundred. It's a shot I play and a shot I've scored plenty of runs with in my career.

Duckett denied England got carried away with their Bazball aggression as they slumped from 188-1 to 222-4 after Aussie spinner Nathan Lyon had suffered a calf muscle injury that could rule him out of the series. He said: "We've played positive cricket for 12 months and we're certainly not going to change. If we get close to Australia's total or a lead we're certainly in this game."