New Delhi. Lord’s ground, known as the Mecca of cricket, has seen many great innings in its illustrious history, but what Ben Duckett and Jacob Bethel did in the third ODI against India will forever be recorded in the record books. Opener Ben Duckett continued his excellent form and scored another best century of his ODI career. On the basis of this century, not only did England achieve a strong position, but Duckett also included his name in a very special and elite club of greats. Lord’s ground once again witnessed a historic historical record, where India’s bowling attack proved ineffective amidst the rain of runs.
With this historic inning, Ben Duckett has made another biggest record in the history of ODI cricket at Lord’s. Duckett has now become the batsman to score the highest individual score in an ODI match at Lord’s. By playing an unbeaten inning of 139 runs against India, he broke the 47-year-old record of the great West Indies batsman Sir Vivian Richards, who had scored an unbeaten 138 runs against England in the 1979 World Cup final.
From the beginning of the match, the intentions of Ben Duckett and his young partner Jacob Bethell were clear. Both of them did not give any chance to the Indian bowlers and played brilliant shots all around the field. Duckett and Bethel together made an incredible and record-breaking partnership of 192 runs for the first wicket. This partnership was not only going to decide the direction of this match, but it also broke a big record in the history of England’s ODI cricket.
Ben Duckett scored the third century of his career against India.
This has now become the biggest partnership made by England for any wicket against India in ODI cricket. Both of them left behind the eight-year-old record of unbeaten 186-run partnership made by Eoin Morgan and Joe Root at the ground of Leeds in 2018. This pair of Duckett and Bethel created a new history at Lord’s by pushing the Indian team on the back foot.
This happened for the first time at Lord’s ground
Although many big partnerships have been formed on the historic ground of Lord’s, such dominance for the opening wicket has never been seen before. Ben Duckett and Jacob Bethel have become the first opening pair in the world to have a partnership of more than 150 runs for the first wicket in ODI cricket at Lord’s. Earlier, the record for the biggest opening partnership on this ground was 135 runs, which was made by Geoffrey Boycott and Peter Willey against West Indies in 1980.
Along with this, this has happened after 16 years for England at Lord’s when the opening pair has made a partnership of more than 100 runs. Earlier in September 2010, Andrew Strauss and Steven Davis had made an opening partnership of 113 runs against Pakistan. Duckett and Bethel ended that drought today and gave the Lord’s audience a chance to dance.
Ben Duckett joins ‘Elite Club’
After scoring a century in this match, Ben Duckett performed a feat at Lord’s which only a few batsmen in the history of cricket have been able to do. Duckett has now become the sixth opening batsman in the world to score a century in both Test and ODI formats at the historic ground of Lord’s. By achieving this feat, he has joined the list of the greatest openers of England and world cricket. Before him, only legends like Dennis Amiss, Graham Gooch, Graeme Wood, Marcus Trescothick and Alastair Cook had the distinction of scoring centuries as an opener in both Test and ODI at Lord’s. Today, by registering his name in this special list, Duckett proved why he is counted among the most dangerous openers of modern cricket.
Duckett’s third century against India
This century of Ben Duckett further strengthens his dominance against the Indian team. Duckett’s bat always speaks loudly against India, no matter what the conditions or the format. With this century, Duckett completed a unique triple century against India.
Now he has a Test century in his name against India on Indian soil, a Test century against India in England, and now an ODI century against India in England has also been added to his account. This shows how accurate his footwork and his timing is against the Indian bowling line-up. This innings at Lord’s is not only going to take England on the path to victory, but will also always be at the top among the most memorable innings of Ben Duckett’s career.
