Ben Duckett is chomping at the bit to retake his place in Nottinghamshire’s squad ahead of the return of Rothesay County Championship action to Trent Bridge.

The Green and Golds are back home to face newly-promoted Sussex in round four (25-28 April, 11am start), having been denied victory over Warwickshire by inclement weather at Edgbaston last week.

Duckett is openly thrilled to have made his return to a Notts squad, which sees his addition in place of Matt Montgomery as the only change from last week’s trip to Birmingham.

“Trent Bridge is my favourite ground in England, and I love playing here,” said England batter Duckett, who is in line to make his first appearance of 2025 against the Martlets.

“Just from watching the lads - I’ve spent a lot of time on the live stream watching them - the energy has looked awesome, and I’m buzzing to get around them this weekend.”

Motivated by high spirits and an enjoyment of his craft, Duckett is clear about what he wants to achieve during his time back in Notts whites.

“In an ideal world, I’ll score runs and contribute to a win, which is all I want to do,” he said.

“But there’s also the fact that we have a young group of batters here, so I’m looking forward to spending time around the group, growing those relationships and helping them in a cricketing sense.

“It’s important to say though, that I’m stepping into their dressing room, and I will play the way this group wants me to play.

“Whatever Hass wants as captain - he’ll back me to go and play my natural game, which is great - but I’m stepping in for a week, and I’m really excited to do that.”

Duckett returns to the side for a fixture that, even at this early stage of the season, will have plenty of interest focused upon it.

Both sides are joint-top of Division One of the Championship, each having enjoyed unbeaten starts to the season, and Duckett is relishing the challenge.

“They’re newly-promoted, and joint-top with us, so they’ve started the season really well,” he said of the visitors.

“They have two international-level bowlers in their attack, and their batters have seemed to score runs every single week!

"I think Hove might be slightly different to batting here, so we can obviously utilise our home advantage. We’re not going to underestimate them, but we’re also sitting joint-top of the table and we know we’re a good side.”