Ben Duckett backed to finish series strong as England stick with him for third ODI against South Africa

Southampton [UK], September 6 (ANI): England have shown faith in Ben Duckett, retaining the left-hander for the third ODI against South Africa in Southampton on Sunday, despite deciding to rest him for next week's T20Is, as per ESPNcricinfo.

England have made just one change to the XI that suffered a narrow five-run defeat at Lord's, going 2-0 down in the three-match series. Jamie Overton comes in for Saqib Mahmood, while the rest of the line-up remains unchanged. The decision means England will again depend on Jacob Bethell, Will Jacks, and possibly Joe Root to cover the workload of a fifth bowler. In the previous game, Bethell and Jacks combined for 1/112 in 10 overs.

Duckett is one of only three England players alongside Harry Brook and Jamie Smith to feature in all 14 home internationals this season, including six Tests, five ODIs, and three T20Is. However, his recent form has dipped, since the start of The Hundred last month, he has crossed the 20-run mark just once in 10 innings. His struggles continued in this series, managing scores of 5 at Headingley and a scratchy 14 off 33 balls at Lord's.

After discussions with head coach Brendon McCullum, Duckett decided to skip next week's T20I series, with Sam Curran drafted into the squad as his replacement. Marcus Trescothick, McCullum's assistant, explained that the decision aims to keep Duckett fresh and firing ahead of a busy winter, which includes an Ashes series in Australia followed by the T20 World Cup.

"Brendon spoke to him over the last few days, trying to get a gauge of where he's at," Trescothick said, as quoted from ESPNcricinfo.

"You look at every situation individually and in its own way, looking at the volume of cricket they've played and by chatting with them to see how they're feeling... This is the best (decision) to maximise performances going forward as we head into a big winter," he added.

"We need certain players to be firing, and Ben is certainly one of those... We need the boys firing going into November, December, January. That's an important time. It's not to say things aren't important coming up, but sometimes you just have to take your foot off the gas a bit and rejuvenate the mind. Then, you can get back on the horse and crack on," he noted.

Meanwhile, Jamie Overton's selection marks his first England appearance since his decision to put red-ball ambitions on hold.

However, bigger concerns linger for England in ODI cricket. Since Brendon McCullum took charge of the white-ball setup in January, the team has struggled for consistency, losing eight of their last 11 ODIs, including a winless campaign at the Champions Trophy. England currently sit eighth in the ICC ODI rankings, dangerously close to the cut-off for automatic qualification for the 2027 Cricket World Cup. With South Africa and Zimbabwe assured of their spots as co-hosts, England must ensure they stay ahead of West Indies and Bangladesh to avoid the embarrassment of playing in the global qualifiers, a stark contrast to their 2019 World Cup triumph.

"We're in an interesting position where we need to climb those rankings," Trescothick said, as quoted from ESPNcricinfo.

"Longer term, there's a bigger picture: we need to look at being at the top of those rankings and beyond. We want to go and compete in the biggest competitions and we've got to be a team that has grown from where we have been to compete like we did in 2019," he added.

"The journey hasn't been easy, of course not, but I definitely feel we're improving and moving in the right direction even though the last two results have been disappointing... We've made a few changes in recent times since Brendon took over, and we feel like we're starting to play better cricket generally," he said.

England XI for the third ODI vs South Africa: Jamie Smith, Ben Duckett, Joe Root, Harry Brook (c), Jos Buttler (wk), Jacob Bethell, Will Jacks, Jamie Overton, Brydon Carse, Jofra Archer, Adil Rashid. (ANI)

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