England's Duckett guilty of 150km/h speeding incident
AP •  April 1st, 2026 6:35 am

Out of sorts batter Ben Duckett has been convicted of speeding in an English court | Photo: Dean Lewins/AAP
England batter Ben Duckett has been convicted of speeding at 93mph (150km/h) and fined £700 ($NZ1,600) by a court, in the same week that he pulled out of the Indian Premier League in a bid to rescue his international career.
The 31-year-old left-hander's place as a Test cricket opener for England is in doubt after a nosedive in his form over the past year, together with controversy over a drunken incident during the recent Ashes tour.
Last week, he pulled out of a £200,000 ($NZ460,000) deal to play for the Delhi Capitals in the IPL, saying he wanted to focus on county cricket and securing his spot in England's Test side ahead of this summer's series against New Zealand.
Duckett 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.
However, last Friday the cricketer suffered a fresh setback when he was convicted by a court of speeding along the A50 near Stoke in Staffordshire at 93mph (150km/h). in a 70mph (113km/h) zone.

Duckett's Ashes form struggles were compounded by a drunken incident in Noosa | Photo: Joel Carrett/AAP
Duckett 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, and an order to also pay £120 ($A230) in costs and a £280 ($A538) victim surcharge.
The speeding incident happened at just after 1.30pm on August 24, hours before Duckett played a starring role in a Birmingham Phoenix Hundred victory over the Manchester Originals at Old Trafford.
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 he had been driving.
It is not Duckett's first encounter with the criminal courts.
As a rising star in 2015, he was prosecuted for drink-driving after crashing his car into a ditch in Northamptonshire, leading to a 12-month road ban.

