Duckett's Baby News Forces England to Plan for Last-Minute Change

England's preparations for the second Test against the West Indies at Trent Bridge have been thrown into disarray as opener Ben Duckett awaits the imminent birth of his first child. Duckett, who delayed his arrival at England's training session on Tuesday to be with his fiancée, Paige, is expected to start the match on Thursday morning. However, plans are in place for any change in the situation, with spare batter Dan Lawrence primed to swap in if Duckett is pulled away before the toss.

England captain Ben Stokes confirmed that Gus Atkinson will share the new ball with Chris Woakes following the retirement of James Anderson at Lord's. Atkinson, who took 7 for 45 and 5 for 61 on debut last week, is a notable promotion for the 26-year-old. Despite his relative lack of first-class experience, Stokes has full faith in Atkinson's ability to open the bowling.

Stokes believes that opening with Atkinson will have a positive knock-on effect on the rest of the bowling attack, especially with the Dukes ball behaving differently in English conditions in recent years. "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's generally been off the surface, hitting the seam, and Gus is a very good exponent of that."

England will be hoping that Duckett is able to play in his home Test, but they are prepared for any eventuality. Stokes has made it clear that family comes first and that Duckett will have the full support of the team whatever decision he makes.

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