Diamond ducks in Tests

After looking at fast scoring, we look at the lack of scores. Different kinds of ducks and pairs have been enumerated in various posts. We now concentrate on diamond ducks, where a batsman is dismissed without facing a ball. This usually happens when he is run out at the non-striker’s end. Less often, it could be when he is stumped or run out off a wide.

The number of balls faced in a batsman’s innings was not always recorded in the past. These are the undisputed cases of diamond ducks up to Oct 25, 2019:

The only one to have two of these ducks is CS Martin, sometimes considered as the worst ever batsman in Tests. Ken Rutherford, Umar Gul and Nuwan Pradeep are the only ones to score diamond ducks on debut. Rutherford got a pair including this duck, but went on to become a successful batsman. Many years later his son Hamish Rutherford made 171 on debut.

Umar Gul and Younis Khan batted the longest-7 minutes each.

There is no case of a diamond pair. The closest approach to one appears to be that of Taufeeq Umar who scored a pair with innings of 0 and 2 balls, thus scoring 0 in two innings with 2 balls which is the equivalent of a “king pair” or dismissal off the first ball of each innings.

Also note: There have been 152 diamond ducks in ODIs. The last were by AU Rashid and MA Wood, who were the last two batsmen dismissed in the World Cup final between England and New Zealand on July 14, 2019.

There have also been 50 diamond ducks in T20Is.

Duck and fifty-plus on Test debut

February 12, 2019 is Gundappa Viswanath’s 70th birthday. And the 50th anniversary of his Test debut comes up later in 2019. So it is a good time to review the history of those who scored a century and duck on debut.

This club has only 4 members:

Note that Viswanath was the first member of this club, with a duck followed by a century on his debut. The only other member of this sub–group is Mohammad Wasim.

Then there is AC Hudson and current player KK Jennings who scored a century followed by a duck on debut.

There have been a total of 166 instances of a century and duck in the same Test, starting with WL Murdoch (0 and 153* in 1880) and ending with UT Khwaja (0 and 101* at Canberra in 2019).

We also look at those who scored a duck and 50+ on debut:

From India, there are only Viswanath, DJ Gandhi and GH Vihari.

Against India, there are captain Tony Lewis (1972), the little-known Australian GR Robertson in 1998, Jennings and Dawson in the same series in 2016 and Roshan Silva in 2017.

Those who narrowly missed a century would be Colin Milburn (94 in 1966) and Zulqarnain Haider (88 in his only Test in 2010).

 

 

Centuries on debut for and against India

Today we look at

1. Test players from India who scored a century on debut.
2. Test players who scored a century on debut, that Test being against India
3. Also those who scored a century AND duck on Test debut.

These figures are as on Jan 17, 2018

Indian players who scored a century on Test debut:

No Indian has achieved this against Zimbabwe and Bangladesh. All other Test teams are represented here.

RG Sharma is one of the few to score centuries in his first two Test innings. Azharuddin is not in this category as he scored two centuries in his first three innings.

Those who scored a century on Test debut, that Test being against India:

Interesting that there are 14 members on each of these lists.

No Pakistani player has achieved this against India. All other Test teams are represented.

Finally, KK Jennings became the 4th player to score a century and duck on Test debut in late 2016. The full list is:

Note that Viswanath was the first to score a duck and century on debut.

There are also those who scored a century and an unbeaten zero on debut. An unbeaten zero is not considered as a duck. The only instance in all Tests is that of BR Taylor (105 and 0*) against India in 1965 noted above. That came about in a declaration with 9 wickets down: http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/match/62966.html

And Taylor remains the only one to score a century and take a five-for on Test debut.

Next time we will look at fivers and tenners on Test debut.