Duckett and Hameed set to vie for Cook’s approval

Alastair Cook has kissed a few frogs in his search to find a new opening partner, but will now be hoping that either Haseeb Hameed or Ben Duckett turns out to be his prince.

If all goes to plan, one of them will become his 10th opening partner since the retirement of Andrew Strauss (at the end of the 2012 season) when the first Test against Bangladesh starts in Chittagong on October 20.

They are far from like-for-like selections. While Hameed is a fairly classical looking player – he is no blocker, but he has a solid defence and pleasing armoury of conventional strokes – Duckett is a bold choice in the modern sense that he seems naturally inclined to attack and has every shot in the book, as well as several that are not. While he has scored his 1,338 Championship runs this season at a strike-rate of 79.45 – a rate that, not so long ago, was considered respectable in List A cricket – Hameed has scored his 1,154 at a strike-rate of 39.33. Hameed, however, has been opening in Division One, while Duckett has been opening in Division Two.

Duckett will have the first opportunity to impress. He is expected to open in the ODI series that precedes the two Tests and it is possible that he will convince the management in those games that he has the character as well as the skills to win selection for the Test side. James Whitaker, the national selector, is clearly a huge admirer, referring to Duckett as “a special player” and “a point-of-difference player”. Not since the elevation of Joe Root as a debutant been spoken of in such terms.

After the ODI series, the pair will go head to head in the red-ball warm-up games. With Cook absent on paternity leave, they will open in both the two-day warm-up games that precede the Tests, and though the captain is expected to return in time for the first Test, there has to be a possibility that Duckett and Hameed will open together; the first pair of debutant openers for England since 1937 when Jim Parks senior and Len Hutton did so against New Zealand at Lord’s.

While it has been presumed that Hameed is in pole position to open – testament to his incredible ascent, really, given his age and lack of first-class experience – it may prove that Duckett is more Trevor Bayliss’ type of player. Bayliss has gone on the record previously as stating his preference for quick-scoring players and, while he has retracted that a little, …

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