Ben Duckett braced for birth of child as Dan Lawrence stands by

England make contingency plans if opener is called away on paternity duty

17-Jul-2024

Ben Duckett has Brendon McCullum's blessing to miss the Trent Bridge Test for the birth of his first child, England vs West Indies training, Men's Test series, Trent Bridge, July 17, 2024

England are primed for a last-minute shift to their plans for the second Test at Trent Bridge, as Ben Duckett prepares for the imminent birth of his first child.

The opener delayed his arrival to England's training session on Tuesday morning, having been the first in and out of the nets on Monday to be with his fiancée, Paige. That this is a home Test for Duckett aids the logistics of prepping for both a newborn and the West Indies attack, ahead of Thursday's start in Nottingham.

England named Duckett in their XI on Tuesday, and anticipate he will be able to start the match on Thursday morning. However, there are plans in place for any change in the situation, with spare batter Dan Lawrence ready to swap in if Duckett is pulled away before the toss has taken place.

"There's a plan in place for Ben and his partner," Ben Stokes said during his captain's press conference on Wednesday. "We'll just have to make a decision if it was to happen before the game started.

"If anything happens throughout the Test match, Ben will just go and come back into the team. He's obviously desperate to play at his home ground but the message from me and Baz is family always comes first. Whatever decision you end up making, you'll get the support of me and Baz."

Stokes also confirmed Gus Atkinson will share the new ball with Chris Woakes following the retirement of James Anderson at Lord's. It is a notable promotion for Atkinson who almost stole the show on debut last week, taking 7 for 45 and 5 for 61 to propel England to victory by an innings and 114 runs.

That these were Atkinson's second and third five-wicket hauls of his career speaks to a relative lack of first-class experience. Not only was Lord's just his 20th red-ball appearance, but across 38 innings in the field, he has opened the bowling just seven times.

The last occasion was against a Sri Lanka Development XI in May 2022, though Atkinson has gone on to accrue plenty of new-ball experience in limited-overs cricket. He has fulfilled the role five times for England in three ODIs and two T20Is.

Stokes has full faith Atkinson is up for the job and believes opening with the 26-year-old will have a positive knock-on effect on the rest of the bowling attack. Especially because the Dukes has been behaving a little differently in English conditions over the last few years.

"He just had all the attributes of a very, very good bowler. A lot of it is to do with the Dukes ball, how it has behaved," Stokes said.

"There has not actually been that much movement in the air with the new ball. It's generally been off the surface, hitting the seam, and Gus is a very good exponent of that.

"At 10-12 overs you get a buff on one side and that is when it really starts to swing, so that is where me and Woody come in. Woody bowling at 94mph with the ball swinging is going to be tough for anyone."

Ben Duckett Dan Lawrence West Indies England England vs West Indies West Indies tour of England

Vithushan Ehantharajah is an associate editor at ESPNcricinfo