Ben Duckett joins captain Steven Mullaney for Part Three of ‘A Moment with Mullaney’ to speak candidly about bouncing back from one of the toughest periods of his life.
In ‘Tough Moments’, Duckett admits he hasn’t helped himself off the field in the past, but that he’s putting all that behind him as he focuses on his new career with the Outlaws.
“I think the toughest one with me is, obviously I haven’t helped myself off the pitch and I get that it can be frustrating for people looking up to cricketers and I haven’t got that right in the past which is why I think people get frustrated with me,” said the 24-year-old.
“My perception of me, the people that know me and cricketers around the circuit, I don’t think would say that I am a bad person.
“I am someone who cares about the game, now at Notts I will care about that for the next ten years or hopefully the rest of my career.”
Last winter, the 24-year-old was sent home from the Lions tour that was running parallel with the Ashes following an incident involving James Anderson.
With the recent faith shown by the England selectors in bestowing him a return to the fold – and by Nottinghamshire in signing him on a three-year contract – Duckett has vowed to put the past behind him.
“Bar being dropped for England (following the tour of India the previous winter) that was probably the toughest period of my life,” he said in a candid conversation with his captain Steven Mullaney.
“Obviously, that was an incident where people can look at it however they want. Speaking on it a year later, I can kind of understand why I was punished.
“That was obviously a tough period for me. Every interview since it has been mentioned and I am more than happy to speak about it. It is in the past.
“It was a tough 12 months, I wasn’t sure when or if I was going to get a call, and when I came back from the franchise (tournament in South Africa) and got the call from Ed Smith it was a lovely surprise.
“I wasn’t expecting it. It’s probably been my worst summer since I started playing, but the other side of that is that it shows the faith he has in me, that was a lovely thing to come back to.
“It feels now almost everything is coming back in the right space and it’s completely down to me now to get back to start scoring the runs I know I can.”
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