Ben Duckett is now the best all-format batsman in the world

Telegraph

24-06-2025

That was a truly incredible win for England. The mindset England have is potent. The captain and coach have fostered a belief that they can win from any situation, no matter how bleak it might look.
India controlled the game, and played well for three-quarters of it. They scored five individual centuries and Jasprit Bumrah looked utterly unplayable at times. They were 430 for three on day two, and 339 in front, five wickets down on day four, and lost. If they had held some simple catches, they would have been out of sight on first innings.
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.
Duckett is unique, and there is a bit of genius about him. His reverse-sweeping of Ravindra Jadeja in this game was staggering. It's his smile and relaxed manner, allied with an incredible eye for the ball and clever strategies, that make him so brilliant.
He sets the tone for a batting order that is very settled at the start of a massive year. I've been working on Indian TV this week, and my colleagues there, including Harsha Bhogle, think England have the best batting line-up in the world.
Keep that going Ben Duckett, what a shot! 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 pic.twitter.com/d2hGr6GeNe
— Sky Sports Cricket (@SkyCricket) June 24, 2025
They are stronger than this India team, despite four different players scoring hundreds here (and the brilliant Rishabh Pant doing it twice), and they will definitely go Down Under for the Ashes with the stronger and more settled batting order, based on the one Australia are fielding against the West Indies tomorrow. One thing I will say, is that Australia will not be nearly as forgiving with the drops as India were here.
All the noise has gone around the batting order, from No 1 to 7. I have been critical of Ollie Pope, but that was a super hundred. He is starting his innings more calmly, and he is lining up Bumrah better than any of the other right-handers, including Joe Root. That is what allowed him to bat for such a long period of time.
Zak Crawley was also under a bit of pressure, but he looked a class act. He played the anchor role for Duckett. In the first innings, he had a slightly closed bat-face to Bumrah, which can happen with his angles. But the little and large, left- and right-hand partnership is ideal. Teams don't know how to bowl at them, and their lines and lengths do awry quickly.
What I most liked about how they chased was they looked like they were having fun, and relishing the challenge. A few times over the Bazball era, England's batsmen have been their own worst enemies. Take the fourth evening, when they had six overs to get through. They could easily have come out and tried to put a dent in the score, but they just dug in, and got through. Same again when Bumrah had the new ball in the morning; they knew that they couldn't win the game in that hour, but they could lose it. So they just gave India that period, and waited for others to come on.
There were other moments in the game when that joy of playing the game was obvious. India were 430 for three on the second day, but you couldn't tell from the body language. That is an amazing strength to have, and it is a mentality that means you can do great things.
We are starting to see the pieces come together for this massive year of Test cricket. I didn't agree with Stokes's decision at the toss, because there were easier ways to get ahead of this game, despite the statistics about Headingley as a chasing ground. But they got there in the end.
I've said there are no questions about the batting order, and I was actually very impressed with England's ability to take 20 wickets on a pitch like this, especially given they didn't get last use of it. Brydon Carse looks every inch a Test cricketer, capable of hitting the pitch hard at tough moments, or pitching it up and swinging the new ball. Body language is so important at this level, and he is such a competitor. I'd have loved him in my attack. And they've been crying out for years for someone to quickly clean up the tail, and Josh Tongue has done it twice.
There's a bit of chatter floating around that England are planning to bring Jofra Archer straight back in for Edgbaston, and are already planning to play Gus Atkinson at Lord's. 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?
Carse is a shoo-in, and Tongue needs to play if he is to continue to improve at this level. He played a single Ashes Test two years ago, then was taken out of the side. Don't make that mistake again.
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.