It is six weeks exactly until England start their summer here at Lord’s against Ireland, a match that should mark the last stop on Ben Duckett’s swift journey back from the Test wilderness to Ashes opener, and on this evidence the Nottinghamshire batter is ready to roll.
On the opening day of this meeting of Division One’s newcomers, Duckett looked leagues apart from a bowling attack that is Middlesex’s strong suit, making his first century of the summer to steer the visitors to an early close on 252 for five.
This is not a venue at which Duckett has excelled historically, his highest first-class score at Lord’s before today being a paltry 43, but he will resume in the morning unbeaten on 119 after a timely score on a ground where England play two of their next three Tests - that Ireland fixture being a de-facto warm-up for an Ashes series that comes here immediately after its Edgbaston opener.
Duckett’s soft recall came for the final Test of last summer, when, having made more than 1,000 runs at 72.28 in the County Championship, he was added to the squad to face South Africa at The Oval as batting cover after Jonny Bairstow’s golf course mishap.
Though he did not play, the summons was the first overt show that the 28-year-old was firmly back in England’s plans, the best part of six years on from his last red-ball cap, and by the time of their next Test engagement in Pakistan, Duckett was installed at the top of the order, his form in the preceding T20 series and natural aggression enough to edge out subcontinent specialist Keaton Jennings as partner to Zak Crawley on a string of flat decks.
What might’ve been a horses for courses assignment has since become something more permanent and after averaging 56.44 in five Tests this winter, Duckett comes into the home summer the more secure of England’s incumbent top order pair, a nice position to be in given the general difficulty of lining up one viable alternative, never mind two.
Half-centuries in each of Notts’ first two matches represented a solid enough start, but this was a knock - not yet concluded - with the potential to shape the game, especially so given Middlesex’s batting woes so far this term.
Having won the toss, despite glorious sunshine, Toby Roland-Jones opted against exposing a top-four that barely made a first-innings run between them across the first fortnight of the campaign, instead offering Duckett and Haseeb Hameed first use of a good pitch.
The reward for what soon looked an ill-advised gamble ought to have been the scalp of the centurion-to-be, Duckett edging through the narrowest of gaps between ‘keeper and slip while still on nought but surviving as Stevie Eskinazi and John Simpson left the catch to one another.
From there, the Notts pair - England openers past and present - were in clinical form, sharing an opening stand of 117 inside 28 overs. Hameed’s fifty came off 86 deliveries, before Duckett reached his own the very next ball, clipping Martin Andersson over the short leg-side boundary and into the Grand Stand for the one six among 12 boundaries in his innings.
An ominous morning for Middlesex was improved only slightly by Ethan Bamber’s breakthrough shortly before lunch, Hameed nicking off for 55 to give the seamer the first of his two wickets, but the home side fought back well after the interval, Ben Slater, Matthew Montgomery and Joe Clarke all departing without reaching double figures, though the former was unlucky to be run-out at the non-striker’s end as Toby Roland-Jones deflected Duckett’s straight drive onto the stumps.
A similar, crisp stroke without fielding intervention took Duckett within one blow of three figures, but as Lyndon James enjoyed a flowing cameo of 41, the England man moved a little more cautiously towards the landmark, turning 60 off 80 at lunch into 100 off 152 with a delicate paddle not long before tea.
