ENG vs NZ: "Bunch Of Nice Guys Who Are Very Good At Cricket" - Ben Duckett On Australian Players

England opener Ben Duckett has opened up on Australian players’ behavior during the five-match Ashes series. The fiercely contested series is widely regarded as one of the best Test series of all time as England and Australia gave it their all. In the end, the series ended at 2-2 and Australia retained the urn.

The media and the fans also made sure to make the series more interesting by not squandering a single opportunity to take shots at the opposition players. The Australian media, former players, and the fans had come down heavily on Ollie Robinson after his expletive-laden send-off to Usman Khawaja before the English cricket fraternity returned the favor when Jonny Bairstow was controversially dismissed in the second Test at Lord’s.

The series also ended on a bitter note as England and Australia players did not have the traditional post-series drink. While Australian players reportedly went to the English dressing room and knocked on the door, there was little interest from the hosts. England later claimed that they were busy with the wrap-up and did not get the time for the drinks.

Ben Duckett on Australia’s behavior:

With the series now done and dusted, Ben Duckett has revealed how the Australian players behaved on the field. The Aussies are infamous for sledging and getting under the skin of the opposition players to unsettle them. But according to Ben Duckett, the visitors did not resort to such methods during the Ashes. The left-handed batsman has revealed that he was sledged just once during the five-match series.

“I actually feel it’s completely overhyped. Most of the back and forth was just niggle in the media. On the field, they are not niggly at all. I hope they don’t mind me saying this but they are a bunch of nice guys who are very good at cricket. I don’t think I got sledged once in the whole series,” Ben Duckett told The Telegraph.

Speaking further, he shared an incident with Australia captain Pat Cummins during the second Test at Lord’s, saying:

“Cummins bowled me a ball down the slope at Lord’s and I definitely played and missed. He says ‘was that a leave?’ I asked what he reckoned and he said ‘definitely’. When he was bowling bumpers I was doing a bit of a Steve Smith trigger. He pitched one up and I left it, and he said: ‘don’t ruin the percentage now Ducky’.”

Ben Duckett had a decent series with the bat. In 5 Tests, he scored 321 runs and gave the team good starts on several occasions.