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England could be forced to make a last minute change in their playing eleven for the second Test against West Indies at Trent Bridge, as the opening batter, Ben Duckett prepares for the birth of his first child.
The second Test between England and West Indies will start from Thursday onwards at Trent Bridge, Nottingham. As per ESPNCricinfo, the opener delayed his arrival to England's training session on Tuesday and was in and out of the nets on Monday in order to stay by the side of his fiance, Paige. This is also a home Test match for Duckett, which helps him in logistical terms to stay prepared both for his first child and the West Indies bowling attack. While England anticipates Duckett to play the match and named him the starting eleven as well, they have made plans for opener Dan Lawrence to step in case Duckett has to leave. Skipper Ben Stokes said ahead of the game that there is a plan in place for Ben, who he said is desperate to play at his home ground in Nottingham. Stokes said that Duckett has backing of him and coach Brendon McCullum, no matter what. "There is a plan in place for Ben and his partner. We will just have to make a decision if it was to happen before the game started," said Stokes, as quoted by ESPNCricinfo. "If anything happens throughout the Test match, Ben will just go and come back into the team. He is obviously desperate to play at his home ground but the message from me and Baz is family always comes first. Whatever decision you end up making, you will get the support of me and Baz (Brendon)," he added. Stokes also expressed his faith in young pacer Gus Atkinson, who is playing only his second Test, to do well with the new ball, along with his partner in pace, Chris Woakes. England gave the first Test cap to Atkinson in the first Test at Lord's, and he repaid the faith by picking up 12 wickets for 106 runs, the fourth-best figures by a debutant in Test history. This also included a seven-wicket haul in the first inning, which helped England seal the match in the first inning itself. "He just had all the attributes of a very, very good bowler. A lot of it is to do with the Dukes ball, how it has behaved," Stokes said. "There has not actually been that much movement in the air with the new ball. It is generally been off the surface, hitting the seam, and Gus is a very good exponent of that." "At 10-12 overs you get a buff on one side and that is when it really starts to swing, so that is where me and Woody (Mark Wood) come in. Woody bowling at 94mph with the ball swinging is going to be tough for anyone," he concluded. England playing eleven for the second Test: Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes (captain), Jamie Smith (wicketkeeper), Chris Woakes, Gus Atkinson, Mark Wood, Shoaib Bashir. (ANI)
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