Watch: England opener Ben Duckett was caught on the point boundary playing an ambitious reverse-sweep on Day One of the Lord's Test match between England and Sri Lanka.
England were put into bat in the second Test of the series, with Duckett and Dan Lawrence continuing their new-look opening partnership in the absence of injured Zak Crawley. Lawrence nicked behind in the seventh over of play before stand-in captain Ollie Pope top edged off a pull shot and was caught by Dhananjaya de Silva for a solitary run.
Despite the two quick wickets, Duckett continued to ensure the scoring rate hovered around four an over. When Prabath Jayasuriya came on to bowl after the drinks break, Joe Root joined in, hitting him for a four through backward square off his second delivery. He took a single off the next, bringing Duckett back onto strike.
However, dealt a ball destined to go well past the off stump, Duckett went for the reverse sweep, stepping out wide of almost a second set of stumps. He couldn't get enough bat on it, and was caught by Lahiru Kumara on the deep point boundary.
Ben Duckett's reverse sweep picks out deep backward point, and he drags himself off for 40. England 82 for 3, with all three dismissals self-induced.
— Lawrence Booth (@BoothCricket) August 29, 2024
Despite scoring the second-most runs of anyone for England in Test matches over the last year, Duckett has previously come under criticism for the manner of his dismissals. He was caught at fine leg attempting to reach a century with a boundary in last year's Ashes Test match at Lord's, and was criticised after he was bowled attempting to hit R Ashwin down the ground in England's fifth Test against India earlier this year.
England went into Lunch on 97-3 against Sri Lanka, with Root on 29 and Harry Brook on nine.
