Duckett pays price for beer shampoo
BEN Duckett will not travel to the West Indies with the England Lions next year having been left out of the squad after he poured a drink over James Anderson’s head earlier this month.
Northants batsman Duckett, 23, was already suspended for the incident in a Perth bar and the England and Wales Cricket Board have confirmed it is why he has been omitted from the tour to the Caribbean.
An ECB spokesman said: “Ben Duckett has not been selected as a result of the off-field incident which led to his suspension and fine in Australia.”
Keaton Jennings will captain the side, which will play three unofficial Tests as well as a trio of one-day games in February and March. It will also see Lancashire opener Haseeb Hameed and Middlesex bowler Toby Roland-Jones return from injury.
Ben Foakes and Mason Crane, who are both currently Down Under with the England Ashes squad, have also been selected while Sam Curran and Jamie Porter are named, too.
Kent’s Sam Northeast will fly over just for the white-ball matches, along with Liam Dawson, Dom Bess and Tom Helm, while Dan Lawrence and Jack Leach will be a part of the squad for the four-day games only. Selector James Whitaker said: “We’ve selected 22 players for these two series in the West Indies, to ensure we gain the most value in terms of assessing players in both first-class and one-day cricket.
“Haseeb Hameed, Jamie Porter and Toby Roland-Jones are all available again after injuries – Jamie and Toby after working exceptionally hard on the ECB’s Pace Programme over the last couple of months.
“Sam Curran missed out on the Lions training camp in Australia but he has also been training hard, under the supervision of Surrey’s strength and conditioning coaches, before going out to play some T20 cricket in New Zealand.
“We have included two members of the Ashes tour squad, Ben Foakes and Mason Crane, for the four-day matches, with the possibility of either or both of them leaving the Lions tour early if they are selected in the England squad for the two Tests in New Zealand in March and April.”