Ben Duckett ton seals incredible Leeds Test win as England chase down 371 against India

The National

11 hours ago

Opener Ben Duckett played an outstanding counter-attacking century in a fourth-innings chase as England chased down 371 to win the first Test against India in Leeds.
Duckett followed his first-innings fifty with a majestic 149 from just 170 balls as the home team reached the target with five wickets in hand in the final hour of play.
It was the 10th highest successful run chase in Test history.
On the final day of the first Test at Headingley, the hosts needed 350 runs to pull off an improbable run chase while India needed 10 wickets.
Looking at the way the Indian attack had performed in the first innings, England had the greater chance of chasing down the runs.
And they went along their job with hardly any trouble.
England resumed on 21-0, with both sides eyeing an early lead in the five-match series.
Duckett and Zak Crawley (65) toyed with the Indian attack, including first-innings hero Jasprit Bumrah, as they added 188 for the opening wicket inside 43 overs.
They not only weathered an early morning testing spell from the Indian pacers but kept the scoreboard ticking without taking many risks.
Left-hander Duckett in particular anchored the chase brilliantly. His reverse sweeps negated the biggest threat of the attack - left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja.
Jadeja had ample rough outside the off-stump to target but Duckett went after him, forcing the spinner to change his lines and go defensive.
That played right into England's plans as they motored along on a day that was littered with intermittent showers and rain breaks.
The closest India had came to separating the pair before lunch was when Bumrah dropped a tough low, left-handed caught and bowled chance off Crawley when he was on 42.
Duckett went on the attack after lunch, on-driving Bumrah for a superb four, with Crawley whipping the India spearhead for a boundary through square leg.
A quick single took Crawley to a 111-ball fifty - the slowest of his England career but still hugely valuable.
Following a 20-minute rain delay in the second session, India finally ended a first-wicket stand of 188.
One ball after pulling impressive quick Prasidh Krishna for four, Crawley edged a drive to first slip, where KL Rahul held a sharp catch.
At that stage, England needed a further 183 runs to reach a victory target of 371 after their highest fourth-innings opening partnership since Michael Atherton and Graham Gooch put on 203 against Australia at Adelaide in 1991.
Crawley's exit brought in Ollie Pope after the vice-captain top-scored with 106 in England's first-innings 465.
But Pope could only manage eight before he was bowled by a fine ball from Krishna to leave England 206-2.
In the meantime, Duckett rode his luck to complete his sixth hundred in 34 Tests.
He was on 97 when he top-edged a pull off Mohammed Siraj only for Yashasvi Jaiswal, running in from deep square leg, to drop another catch in the Test.
Soon afterwards, Duckett's reverse hit off left-arm spinner Jadeja took him to a century with his 14th four in 121 balls faced.
England were on cruise control before seamer Shardul Thakur brought India back into the contest.
He had Duckett driving to cover right before the tea break, ending a superb century that included 21 fours and one six. Next ball, Thakur had Harry Brook caught behind as England lost momentum heading into the final session.
Captain Ben Stokes and Joe Root tried to counter attack before Stokes fell to Jadeja for 33.
It was left to former captain Root at anchor the chase in the company of keeper Jamie Smith.
Root raised his 66th fifty in quick time to take England close. Smith completed a stunning win by smashing Jadeja for a four and two sixes with the second new ball.
Root remained unbeaten on 53 and Smith scored 44.