England cricketer Ben Duckett has been convicted of speeding at 93mph and fined £700 by a court, just days after pulling out of the Indian Premier League in a bid to rescue his international career.
The 31-year-old batter’s place as a Test cricket opener for England is in doubt after a nosedive in his form over the past year.
It follows controversy over a drunken incident during the winter Ashes tour.
Last week he pulled out of a £200,000 deal to play for the Delhi Capitals in the IPL, saying he wanted to focus on county cricket and securing his spot in the Test side ahead of this summer’s series against New Zealand.
Duckett has apologised for past unprofessionalism, particularly an incident when he was filmed drunk on a night out in Noosa, Australia, midway through the Ashes.
However, last Friday the cricketer suffered a fresh setback when he was convicted by a court of speeding along the A50 near Stoke in Staffordshire at 93mph.
Duckett was pictured at the wheel of his Land Rover breaking the 70mph limit as the vehicle was caught on a police speed gun.
He pleaded guilty to the offence and offered no mitigation, leading to magistrate Michelle Foster, sitting at Cannock Magistrates’ Court, imposing a £700 fine, four penalty points on his licence, and an order to also pay £120 in costs and a £280 victim surcharge.
The speeding incident happened at just after 1.30pm on August 24, hours before Duckett played a starring role in a Birmingham Phoenix Hundred victory over the Manchester Originals at Old Trafford.
Duckett admitted the speeding offence in September after being written to by Staffordshire Police.
He then pleaded guilty through the Single Justice Procedure when the force decided to bring a criminal prosecution rather than impose an out-of-court fine, due to the high speed he had been driving.
It is not Duckett’s first encounter with the criminal courts.
As a rising star in 2015, he was prosecuted for drink-driving after crashing his car into a ditch in Northamptonshire, leading to a 12-month road ban.
Duckett was first selected for England’s Test side in 2016, but ran into controversy the following year when he reportedly poured a drink over bowler James Anderson’s head during a night out.
He became a key player as an opener for England from 2022, adapting well to the team’s “Bazball” style of play.
However, Duckett himself has acknowledged the “ridiculously big dip” in his form over the last year, while the incident in Noosa – during a disastrous Ashes tour – placed him again at the centre of a drunken night out controversy.
“I am sorry for that incident, it was not professional and shouldn’t have happened”, he told the Telegraph last week.
“There is no hiding away from it.”
Duckett’s speeding prosecution was dealt with behind closed doors last Friday without a formal court hearing.
The cricketer entered his guilty plea online and will now be written to with instructions for settling the £1,100 court bill.
