Ben Duckett admits he does not play his signature scoop shot as bravely in the nets as he does in matches. The England opener made the admission in a Sky Sports Cricket interview where he broke down his approach to the scoop and attacking pace bowling.
“It’s actually a shot that I don’t I don’t do in here. You know, I find when I play it in the net, and that’s probably not going to sound great, and this is where you’re going to have to start it. It’s a shot that I’ve played since I was a kid, but I find sometimes in here I don’t get as brave.”
Ben Duckett, Sky Sports Cricket interview
The scoop has been part of Duckett’s game since childhood. Yet he openly acknowledges that the practice environment takes something away from the shot. For someone who reverse scooped Akash Deep for six in the fourth over of a Test innings at The Oval in 2025, joining Sam Konstas in an exclusive two-man club for the earliest reverse scoop in Test history, that admission carries weight.
Errm what? 😂
Ben Duckett that is ridiculous. pic.twitter.com/77CKcux82U
— England Cricket (@englandcricket) August 1, 2025
That shot at The Oval captured what Duckett looks like when he is brave. He walked across his stumps against a pace bowler in the fourth over of a Test match and scooped over the slip cordon for six. He went on to score 43 off 38 balls before attempting another reverse scoop and edging behind. The willingness to play the shot was never in question. But by his own admission, that willingness does not always show up in practice.
Why the Scoop Feels Different in the Nets
Insider Read:
The gap Duckett describes is something most professional batters would recognise but few would say out loud. Nets strip away everything the scoop relies on. In a match, the field is set, the bowler has a plan, and the batter can read the situation. That predictability is what makes the scoop work. A batter sees fine leg up, reads a full length, and commits. The decision is instant because the information is clear.
In nets, none of that exists. The bowler is a teammate, not an opponent. The pace changes from ball to ball. There is no field to read, no scoreboard pressure, no consequence. The scoop needs the bowler’s pace to do most of the work, and net bowling rarely delivers that consistently. So the batter hesitates, and hesitation is what kills the shot. It is not a lack of skill. It is a lack of context.
Duckett has explained the tactical side of the scoop in previous interviews. He reads the field before he commits. When seamers bowl with fine leg up, he scoops over fine leg, which forces the captain to drop fine leg back and bring mid-off up. That opens the front of the wicket. The shot is not just about scoring behind the stumps. It changes the entire field, and that chain reaction only happens in a match.
His recent record shows a batter playing the scoop with full commitment when it counts. He hit 113 off 99 balls against New Zealand at Trent Bridge in June 2026, equalling his fastest Test century. Two weeks later he scored 141 at Lord’s against India in the series-deciding ODI, the highest individual score in an ODI at Lord’s, surpassing Viv Richards’ 138 not out from the 1979 World Cup final. Mark Wood once described him as “a nightmare to bowl at in the nets” because “we try to get him to leave one but he never leaves any.” But even Duckett, the batter who never leaves, holds something back when it comes to the scoop in practice.
The admission does not diminish Duckett. It explains him. The scoop is not a practice drill shot. It is a match shot, built on instinct, context, and the kind of bravery that only shows up when it matters.
Sources:
Ben Duckett, Sky Sports Cricket interview
Also Read:
