England pacer Brydon Carse has stated that opener Ben Duckett will bat on Day 3 of the first Test against Pakistan in Multan, despite a finger injury. The 29-year-old mentioned that Duckett will be assessed overnight to ensure he’s ready to play.
Duckett sustained the injury while catching Abrar Ahmed off Joe Root’s bowling on Day 2 (October 8). As a result, he did not open the innings, with stand-in captain Ollie Pope stepping in alongside Zak Crawley.
In the post-match press conference, Carse said, as reported by BBC:
“Ben’s OK. He’s just taken a knock. He’ll be assessed overnight and he’ll be back batting tomorrow.”
Pope opened the innings but was dismissed for a duck when Naseem Shah forced him to miscue a pull shot, which Aamir Jamal caught spectacularly with one hand at mid-wicket.
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Carse, who took three wickets in 22 overs on his debut, shared that Ben Stokes repeatedly told him that the conditions wouldn’t be this harsh again. He expressed hope that the English batters will perform well on Day 3 and stated, as quoted by ESPN Cricinfo:
“A couple of the guys and Stokesy [Ben Stokes] said to me when we came in after fielding, ‘look, Brydon, it’s not going to get as tough as this [again] over the last two days’. I had a conversation with Woaksey and Gus towards the end there. Both them boys’ legs were proper hanging on. There’ll be ice baths. we’re testing our hydration.”
“I’ve been in the red for most of these two days, even with the constant consumption of water and fluids. But tonight, the lads will refuel and get food down us, and try and get a good night’s sleep, and hopefully have a good batting day tomorrow.”
Despite losing Pope, the visitors finished Day 2 at 96-1, with Zak Crawley and Joe Root set to continue. England remains 460 runs behind.
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