{"id":250203,"date":"2026-06-26T19:21:59","date_gmt":"2026-06-26T19:21:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/26\/ben-duckett-says-shedding-pounds-has-helped-him-pile-on-runs-for-england\/"},"modified":"2026-06-26T19:21:59","modified_gmt":"2026-06-26T19:21:59","slug":"ben-duckett-says-shedding-pounds-has-helped-him-pile-on-runs-for-england","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/26\/ben-duckett-says-shedding-pounds-has-helped-him-pile-on-runs-for-england\/","title":{"rendered":"Ben Duckett says shedding pounds has helped him pile on runs for England"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">After scoring his first Test century for more than a year Ben Duckett revealed that shedding some weight has helped him to pile on the runs, with a post-winter fitness regime catapulting him into the summer in form that was glimpsed in the first two games of the series and has been obvious in the third.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">\u201cIt\u2019s an area of my career where I haven\u2019t necessarily helped myself or been great at,\u201d he said, after <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/sport\/2026\/jun\/26\/stokes-sparks-england-recovery-as-duckett-finds-his-groove-against-new-zealand\" data-link-name=\"in body link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">scoring a 99-ball 113 on his home ground<\/a>. \u201cThe biggest thing is I\u2019m not getting any younger and I want to keep doing this, to keep having days like this, for as long as I possibly can.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure data-spacefinder-role=\"inline\" data-spacefinder-type=\"model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.NewsletterSignupBlockElement\" class=\"dcr-d9bay7\"><gu-island name=\"EmailSignUpWrapper\" priority=\"feature\" deferuntil=\"visible\" props=\"{&quot;index&quot;:2,&quot;listId&quot;:4169,&quot;identityName&quot;:&quot;the-spin&quot;,&quot;category&quot;:&quot;article-based&quot;,&quot;description&quot;:&quot;Subscribe to our cricket newsletter for our writers' thoughts on the biggest stories and a review of the week\u2019s action&quot;,&quot;name&quot;:&quot;The Spin&quot;,&quot;frequency&quot;:&quot;Weekly&quot;,&quot;theme&quot;:&quot;sport&quot;,&quot;illustrationSquare&quot;:&quot;https:\/\/media.guim.co.uk\/c5eeb6102eac4af2265ec7b0ef68d1e0465c513e\/0_0_1000_1000\/500.jpg&quot;,&quot;exampleUrl&quot;:&quot;\/sport\/series\/thespin\/latest\/email&quot;,&quot;idApiUrl&quot;:&quot;https:\/\/idapi.theguardian.com&quot;}\"><a data-ignore=\"global-link-styling\" href=\"#EmailSignup-skip-link-2\" class=\"dcr-76akua\">skip past newsletter promotion<\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"dcr-1ao0bwb\">\n<div class=\"dcr-12qa5gp\">\n<hr class=\"dcr-1cjdlyj\"\/>\n<aside aria-label=\"newsletter promotion\" class=\"dcr-11zfjs0\">\n<div class=\"dcr-pspq5\">\n<div class=\"dcr-1gx5ko4\">\n<p class=\"dcr-vf9hps\">Sign up to <span>The Spin<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1r7my33\">Subscribe to our cricket newsletter for our writers&#8217; thoughts on the biggest stories and a review of the week\u2019s action<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p id=\"EmailSignup-skip-link-2\" tabindex=\"0\" aria-label=\"after newsletter promotion\" role=\"note\" class=\"dcr-76akua\">after newsletter promotion<\/p>\n<p><\/gu-island><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"063e786e-9ee2-4a98-b6e9-d4751ca7e85f\" data-spacefinder-role=\"richLink\" data-spacefinder-type=\"model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.RichLinkBlockElement\" class=\"dcr-1oq85qr\"><gu-island name=\"RichLinkComponent\" priority=\"feature\" deferuntil=\"idle\" props=\"{&quot;richLinkIndex&quot;:3,&quot;element&quot;:{&quot;_type&quot;:&quot;model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.RichLinkBlockElement&quot;,&quot;prefix&quot;:&quot;Related: &quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Nicholls\u2019 drop defines the day as Duckett cashes in on luck to deliver for England | Andy Bull&quot;,&quot;elementId&quot;:&quot;063e786e-9ee2-4a98-b6e9-d4751ca7e85f&quot;,&quot;role&quot;:&quot;richLink&quot;,&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/sport\/2026\/jun\/26\/nicholls-drop-defines-the-day-as-duckett-cashes-in-on-luck-to-deliver-for-england&quot;},&quot;ajaxUrl&quot;:&quot;https:\/\/api.nextgen.guardianapps.co.uk&quot;,&quot;format&quot;:{&quot;design&quot;:0,&quot;display&quot;:0,&quot;theme&quot;:2}}\"\/><\/figure>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">Duckett lost about 6kg (13lb) after returning from his winter international commitments and adopting a new fitness regime in which he has started running for the first time. \u201cI\u2019ve been doing a lot of fitness and got the rewards today in the heat,\u201d he said. \u201cI had maybe a four-week block where I didn\u2019t hit many balls. You don\u2019t get many windows where you can go and lose the amount of weight I lost.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">The weight was not the only drop on Duckett\u2019s mind, given the chance he edged to slip when on eight \u2013 karmic comeback, perhaps, for his being blamelessly run out at the Oval last week. \u201cI was chatting to [fielding coach] Sarah Taylor this morning and I said I\u2019ve got to get some luck eventually, that\u2019s just how the game works,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">England took New Zealand\u2019s last six first-innings wickets for 77 at the start of the day, with Ben Stokes leading the way with three in his eight overs. \u201cA lot of teams would have folded in the position we were in,\u201d Duckett said. \u201cWe want to be a side that never gives up and wins from different positions, and when he\u2019s doing that it\u2019s pretty impossible for everyone else not to get on his back and do the same. That was just an incredible, incredible morning for us.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">As a result, New Zealand slipped from being at one stage 317 without loss to 438 all out. \u201cWe had a great opening partnership and yes, you want to score more runs, but England are allowed to bowl well and I thought this morning they bowled well, they took their chances, and here we are now,\u201d said Daryl Mitchell. \u201cBut the cool thing is, e\u2019ve still got a lead. Test cricket\u2019s about five days, not just one or two, and we\u2019ll be giving it everything we can to be there on that day five.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/sport\/2026\/jun\/26\/ben-duckett-says-shedding-pounds-has-helped-him-pile-on-runs-for-england\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>After scoring his first Test century for more than a year Ben Duckett revealed that shedding some weight has helped him to pile on the runs, with a post-winter fitness regime catapulting him into the summer in form that was glimpsed in the first two games of the series and has been obvious in the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":250204,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6803],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-250203","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cricket"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250203","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=250203"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250203\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/250204"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=250203"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=250203"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=250203"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}