Ben Duckett hit with fine after being caught doing 93mph in Land Rover hours before starring in Hundred match
The England International was pictured behind the wheel last August
England opening batter Ben Duckett has been fined £700 after he was caught speeding at 93mph just hours before starring in a win for Birmingham Phoenix last summer.
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The 31-year-old was pictured behind the wheel of his Land Rover on the A5 near Stoke in Staffordshire breaking the 70mph limit.
The incident was picked up on a police speed camera at around 1:30pm on August 24 last year, hours before scoring an unbeaten 49 runs on the way to a win over Manchester Originals at Old Trafford in the Hundred competition.
He pleaded guilty to the offence and offered no mitigation, leading to magistrate Michelle Foster, sitting at Cannock Magistrates’ Court, imposing a £700 fine, four penalty points on his licence.
Duckett admitted the speeding offence in September after being written to by Staffordshire Police. He then pleaded guilty through the Single Justice Procedure when the force decided to bring a criminal prosecution rather than impose an out-of-court fine, due to the high speed involved.
It comes in the same week he pulled out of the Indian Premier League in a bid to get his international career back on track following a disappointing Ashes series in the winter.
He withdrew from the £200,000 deal to play for the Delhi Capitals in the IPL last week, saying he wanted to focus on county cricket and securing his spot in the Test side ahead of this summer’s series against New Zealand.
He also issued an apology for past unprofessionalism, particularly an incident when he was filmed drunk on a night out in Noosa, Australia, midway through the Ashes series defeat this winter.
The latest incident is not Duckett’s first encounter with the criminal courts after he was prosecuted for drink-driving after crashing his car into a ditch in Northamptonshire in 2015, leading to a 12-month road ban.
Duckett was first selected for England’s Test side in 2016, but ran into controversy the following year when he reportedly poured a drink over bowler James Anderson’s head during a night out.
He became a key player as an opener for England from 2022, adapting well to the team's "Bazball" style of play.
Acknowledging the Noosa incident during a Telegraph interview last week, he said: "I am sorry for that incident, it was not professional and shouldn’t have happened.
"There is no hiding away from it."
Duckett’s speeding prosecution was dealt with behind closed doors last Friday without a formal court hearing.
The cricketer entered his guilty plea online and will now be written to with instructions for settling the £1,100 court bill.
He was also ordered to pay £120 in costs and a £280 victim surcharge.