New Delhi. England's Ben Duckett stunned the Kangaroos by batting stormy in the Champions Trophy. Ben Duckett scored a brilliant century against Australia when England lost 2 wickets within 6 overs. Duckett not only scored a century, but also pushed Australia on the backfoot with attacking batting. He completed his century in 95 balls. Thanks to his century, England scored 351 runs for 8 wickets against Australia. This is the highest score in the history of the Champions Trophy. The previous record was in the name of New Zealand, which it made in 2004.
England and Australia faced each other in Lahore on Saturday. This is the first match of both the teams in the Champions Trophy. Australia won the toss and bowled first in this match. Australian captain Steve Smith's decision seemed right in the beginning. Australia took 2 wickets of England within 43 runs. Phil Salt was out after scoring 10 and Jamie Smith after scoring 15 runs. Australian bowlers were getting proud of the initial success but Ben Duckett along with Joe Root spoiled the joy of the Kangaroos.
Ben Duckett played an innings of 165 runs
Ben Duckett and Joe Root took the English team towards a big score by adding 158 runs in just 25.4 overs. Root was out after scoring 68 runs, but Ben Duckett did not give up before scoring a century. He completed his century by hitting two consecutive fours in the next over right after Root was out. He hit a six and 11 fours while reaching 100 runs. This is his third ODI century. Duckett was out after scoring 165 runs in 143 balls. If he had scored 4 more runs, he would have completed his one thousand runs in the ODI format.
Duckett becomes the sixth batsman to score a century in the tournament
30-year-old Ben Duckett is the sixth batsman to score a century in the current Champions Trophy. New Zealand's Will Young is the first batsman to score a century in the tournament. New Zealand's Tom Latham, India's Shubman Gill, South Africa's Ryan Rickelton and Bangladesh's Tauheed Hridoy have also scored centuries in the Champions Trophy 2025.
