Duckett: "Anderson encouraged me to pour a drink on his head during Ashes" 

Ben Duckett has shed light on the infamous 2017-18 Ashes incident where he poured a drink on James Anderson, revealing that Anderson had first tossed a drink on him and then, feeling bad, encouraged Duckett to reciprocate.

The England opener has opened up a controversial episode in his career saying it was 'a really, really tough time'

Duckett, then part of the England Lions tour and hopeful of adding to his four Test caps from 2016, faced disciplinary action, receiving a fine and suspension before being sent home. He eventually rejoined the Lions at the end of 2018.

The incident occurred before the third Ashes Test in Perth, when England trailed Australia 2-0 and faced intense scrutiny over off-field conduct. The venue, Perth’s Avenue Bar, had already drawn attention when Jonny Bairstow “greeted” Australia’s Cameron Bancroft by lightly bumping heads—a gesture that sparked media controversy.

The ECB had been vigilant about player behavior, especially after Ben Stokes was charged with affray that September. Duckett’s incident led to a permanent curfew imposed after Bairstow's incident, which has been relaxed intermittently since.

Head coach Trevor Bayliss expressed frustration, calling it “a fairly trivial incident” but recognizing that “in the current climate, it’s just not acceptable.” Anderson downplayed the event in his column, calling it a “pretty silly incident.” Meanwhile, Bayliss and managing director Andrew Strauss, who publicly defended the team against claims of a drinking culture, enforced stricter behavioral standards. England ultimately lost the series 4-0, with Duckett already back in England by then.

Seven years later, Duckett is a regular in the England team, and with Anderson now retired but active as a bowling consultant, Duckett clarified that he hadn’t initiated the incident. He confessed to fearing his career was over at the time.

"Jimmy actually threw a drink on me, but no one knows about that," Duckett told The Final Word podcast. "And then said, 'oh, we're just messing around. You can just lob one on my head. That's fine.' Genuinely. So then I just poured one on his head and the security guard saw me from the ECB, who looks after us, and it filtered back.

 

"That was kind of basically the story. We carried on the rest of the night together, getting on well. That's the story that's got blown up. Then obviously when things start getting out in the media and everyone's saying all this stuff, then everyone believes that like that. And as soon as a story or a headline's out there, 'well that's what happened then'.

 

"But then you can't really come out and say what I've just said, because I'm a young lad trying to break into the England team. It's one of the best ever England players, you know? And people didn't really want to hear me.

 

"It was actually a really, really tough time. People look back and it's probably funny and stuff like that. But when you're in Australia and you're kind of being told you can't go to training, you can't play - it's a lonely place for a 22-year-old.

 

"And being in Australia, you're not getting much sympathy from any anyone out there, are you? But yeah, it was one of those things where… it feels like your world's ending. The time difference, you're not speaking to family much. The lads around me in that group at the time were amazing."

 

Duckett's subsequent emergence as an England regular across has allowed him to put a positive spin on that period of his career. Only Joe Root (2250) has more than Duckett's 1980 runs since returning to the Test side as an opener at the end of 2022, at a strike rate of 88.55, with four centuries.

 

The left-hander was one of just three batters to average over 50 in the recent 2-1 series defeat to Pakistan. He is also set to be a vital cog in the rejuvenation of the limited overs set-up, led by Test head coach Brendon McCullum who will assume control of England's white-ball sides in the new year.

 

While Duckett feared for his future after that 2017-18 winter, he believes the resolve it bred has been integral to developing as a mainstay across all three formats.

 

"It's not that moment that was the issue. It was, you know, for the next 12 months, it was, 'you're basically on hold now for a little while'. Which for a 23 [year-old]… that's kind of a bad time to basically get told you've got no chance here.

               

"It does make you grow up a little bit faster and stuff and dealing with what I had to deal with probably made me a little bit more resilient as a person and probably a bit tougher.

 

"All these things now, in a really weird way, I wouldn't change much of it because, where I am right now, when I play for England, it's like I don't want to give that shirt to anyone else.

 

"I've probably not made things easy at times. I'm not a saint and an angel, and I probably was an easy target at the time. That would be the only thing I'll say - whether it was dealt right or wrong, that's for people to make their own mind up."