Ben Duckett has paid a heavy price for his off-field indiscretions in Australia by being left out of the England Lions squad that will tour the West Indies next year.
The Northamptonshire opener was a notable absentee from the squads announced by the England and Wales Cricket Board on Tuesday after he was suspended, fined and given a final written warning about his future conduct following an incident in a Perth bar that led to him pouring beer over Jimmy Anderson. Duckett, who played four Tests last year, against Bangladesh and India, was also left out of the Lions’ two-day match against a Cricket Australia XI this month and an ECB spokesman confirmed that his absence from the West Indies tour, which begins in February, was further punishment for his behaviour.
“Ben Duckett has not been selected as a result of the off-field incident which led to his suspension and fine in Australia,” he said.
The Lions have been in Australia since November for a training camp and have played five matches so far, drawing twice and losing three times to Perth Scorchers in Twenty20s. Aside from Duckett, the 10 players currently on tour will now head to West Indies in February to play three four-day matches and three one-dayers, with Haseeb Hameed, Ben Foakes, Sam Curran, Mason Crane, Jamie Porter and Toby Roland-Jones added to the squad for the red ball games. They will be captained by Lancashire’s Keaton Jennings in both formats, while fast bowlers Josh Tongue and Tom Helm have been selected despite being affected by injury during the Australia camp. Hampshire all-rounder Liam Dawson, Kent batsman Sam Northeast and Lancashire leg-spinner Matthew Parkinson are the other call-ups to the one-day squad.
“We have selected a total of 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,” said national selector James Whitaker.
“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 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.
“We will be naming that squad in the new year, and the same goes for the squads for the North-South Series which will be played in Barbados at the end of the Lions tour – and is likely to include the players who have been selected for the one-day series against West Indies A.”
Lions squads
Whole tour: K Jennings, (Lancashire, capt), J Clarke (Worcestershire), L Livingstone (Lancashire), S Curran (Surrey), J Porter (Essex), P Coughlin (Nottinghamshire), S Mahmood (Lancashire), N Gubbins (Middlesex), A Davies (Lancashire, wk).
Red-ball only: H Hameed (Lancashire), D Lawrence (Essex), B Foakes (Surrey, wk), T Roland-Jones (Middlesex), J Leach (Somerset), M Crane (Hampshire), J Tongue (Worcestershire).
White-ball only: S Northeast (Kent), L Dawson (Hampshire), D Bess (Somerset), T Helm (Middlesex), G Garton (Sussex), M Parkinson (Lancashire).
